diff --git a/src/datamodel/instance.cpp b/src/datamodel/instance.cpp
index 7b5b5ea..755a79d 100644
--- a/src/datamodel/instance.cpp
+++ b/src/datamodel/instance.cpp
@@ -31,15 +31,15 @@ std::vector<std::shared_ptr<Instance>> Instance::GetChildren() {
     return this->children;
 }
 
-Instance Instance::CloneInternal() {
+std::unique_ptr<Instance> Instance::CloneInternal() {
     // TODO: Implement refs
 
-    Instance clone = *this;
-    clone.children = std::vector<std::shared_ptr<Instance>>();
-    clone.children.reserve(this->children.size());
+    std::unique_ptr<Instance> clone = this->copy();
+    clone->children = std::vector<std::shared_ptr<Instance>>();
+    clone->children.reserve(this->children.size());
 
     for (std::shared_ptr<Instance> child : this->children) {
-        clone.children.push_back(std::make_shared<Instance>(child->CloneInternal()));
+        clone->children.push_back(std::make_shared<Instance>(child->CloneInternal()));
     }
 
     return clone;
diff --git a/src/datamodel/instance.h b/src/datamodel/instance.h
index 7175f85..2ae4199 100644
--- a/src/datamodel/instance.h
+++ b/src/datamodel/instance.h
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 
+#define INSTANCE_COPY_IMPL(CLASS_NAME) std::unique_ptr<Instance> CLASS_NAME::copy() { return std::make_unique<CLASS_NAME>(CLASS_NAME(*this)); } 
+
 // The base class for all objects in the data model
 class Instance : std::enable_shared_from_this<Instance> {
 private:
@@ -16,5 +18,6 @@ public:
     std::vector<std::shared_ptr<Instance>> GetChildren();
 
     virtual void Init();
-    Instance CloneInternal();
+    std::unique_ptr<Instance> CloneInternal();
+    virtual std::unique_ptr<Instance> copy() const = 0;
 };
\ No newline at end of file