diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copy.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copy.java
index 4bc0bc4dc..bb90ac790 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copy.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Copy.java
@@ -889,7 +889,10 @@ public class Copy extends Task {
                         if (targetFile.exists() && !targetFile.delete()) {
                             msg += " and I couldn't delete the corrupt " + toFile;
                         }
-                        throw new BuildException(msg, ioe, getLocation());
+                        if (failonerror) {
+                            throw new BuildException(msg, ioe, getLocation());
+                        }
+                        log(msg, Project.MSG_ERR);
                     }
                 }
             }