diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/build_options.rb b/Library/Homebrew/build_options.rb
index 58348da8a5..f3c7e856e3 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/build_options.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/build_options.rb
@@ -8,11 +8,6 @@ class BuildOptions
     @options = options
   end
 
-  def initialize_copy(other)
-    super
-    @args = other.args.dup
-  end
-
   def include? name
     @args.include?("--#{name}")
   end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/test/test_build_options.rb b/Library/Homebrew/test/test_build_options.rb
index 072e7b72b0..e3ed44f9da 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/test/test_build_options.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/test/test_build_options.rb
@@ -31,10 +31,4 @@ class BuildOptionsTests < Homebrew::TestCase
   def test_unused_options
     assert_includes @build.unused_options, "--without-baz"
   end
-
-  def test_copies_do_not_share_underlying_args
-    orig = BuildOptions.new [], Options.new
-    copy = orig.dup
-    refute_same orig.args, copy.args
-  end
 end