diff --git a/clipmenud b/clipmenud
index 0a9002c..c6c0fb3 100755
--- a/clipmenud
+++ b/clipmenud
@@ -55,24 +55,9 @@ while sleep "${CLIPMENUD_SLEEP:-0.5}"; do
         if type -p xsel >/dev/null 2>&1; then
             debug 'Using xsel'
             data=$(xsel -o --"$selection"; printf x)
-            # Take ownership of the clipboard, in case the original application
-            # is unable to serve the clipboard request (due to being suspended,
-            # etc).
-            #
-            # Primary is excluded from the change of ownership as applications
-            # sometimes act up if clipboard focus is taken away from them --
-            # for example, urxvt will unhilight text, which is undesirable.
-            if [[ $selection != primary ]]; then
-                xsel -o --"$selection" | xsel -i --"$selection"
-            fi
         else
             debug 'Using xclip'
             data=$(xclip -o -sel "$selection"; printf x)
-            # See above comments about taking ownership of the clipboard for
-            # context.
-            if [[ $selection != primary ]]; then
-                xclip -o -sel "$selection" | xclip -i -sel "$selection"
-            fi
         fi
 
         debug "Data before stripping: $data"
@@ -110,5 +95,24 @@ while sleep "${CLIPMENUD_SLEEP:-0.5}"; do
 
         debug "Writing $data to $filename"
         printf '%s' "$data" > "$filename"
+
+        if ! (( NO_OWN_CLIPBOARD )) && [[ $selection != primary ]]; then
+            # Take ownership of the clipboard, in case the original application
+            # is unable to serve the clipboard request (due to being suspended,
+            # etc).
+            #
+            # Primary is excluded from the change of ownership as applications
+            # sometimes act up if clipboard focus is taken away from them --
+            # for example, urxvt will unhilight text, which is undesirable.
+            #
+            # We can't colocate this with the above copying code because
+            # https://github.com/cdown/clipmenu/issues/34 requires knowing if
+            # we would skip first.
+            if type -p xsel >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+                xsel -o --"$selection" | xsel -i --"$selection"
+            else
+                xclip -o -sel "$selection" | xclip -i -sel "$selection"
+            fi
+        fi
     done
 done