diff --git a/static/js/index.js b/static/js/index.js
index 54f370c..ca289c4 100755
--- a/static/js/index.js
+++ b/static/js/index.js
@@ -35,9 +35,12 @@ exports.postAceInit = function(hook, context) {
 }
 
 exports.aceAttribsToClasses = function(hook, context) {
-    if(context.key == 'url'){
-        var url = context.value;
-        return ['url-' + url ];
+    if (context.key === 'url'){
+      if (/^ ?url-/.test(context.value)) {
+        return [context.value];
+      } else {
+        return ['url-' + context.value];
+      }
     }
 }
 
@@ -83,6 +86,6 @@ function doInsertLink(url) {
 exports.collectContentPre = function(hook,context) {
     var url = /(?:^| )url-(\S*)/.exec(context.cls);
     if(url) {
-        context.cc.doAttrib(context.state,"url::" + url);
+        context.cc.doAttrib(context.state,"url::" + url[0]);
     }
 }
diff --git a/static/tests/frontend/specs/embeddedlinks.js b/static/tests/frontend/specs/embeddedlinks.js
index 5e20eb5..2cf3cb8 100644
--- a/static/tests/frontend/specs/embeddedlinks.js
+++ b/static/tests/frontend/specs/embeddedlinks.js
@@ -156,4 +156,32 @@ describe('ep_embedded_hyperlinks2', function () {
         secondSpan.classList.contains('b');
     });
   });
+
+  it('has correct links after copy and paste', async function() {
+   // FIXME use clipboard API
+   const html = '<span class="url-beta.etherpad.com/"><a href="http://beta.etherpad.com/">1link, </a></span>\
+<span class="b url-beta.etherpad.com/"><a href="http://beta.etherpad.com/"><b>2bold</b></a></span>\
+<span class="url-beta.etherpad.com/"><a href="http://beta.etherpad.com/">, 3link</a></span>'
+   helper.linesDiv()[0].html(html);
+   await helper.waitForPromise(() => helper.commits.length === 1);
+
+   await helper.waitForPromise(() => {
+     const lineText = helper.textLines()[0];
+     const firstSpan = helper.linesDiv()[0][0].children[0];
+     const secondSpan = helper.linesDiv()[0][0].children[1];
+     const thirdSpan = helper.linesDiv()[0][0].children[2];
+
+     return lineText === '1link, 2bold, 3link' &&
+       firstSpan.children[0].getAttribute('href') === 'http://beta.etherpad.com/' &&
+       secondSpan.children[0].getAttribute('href') === 'http://beta.etherpad.com/' &&
+       thirdSpan.children[0].getAttribute('href') === 'http://beta.etherpad.com/' &&
+       firstSpan.classList.contains('url-beta.etherpad.com/') &&
+       !firstSpan.classList.contains('url-') &&
+       secondSpan.classList.contains('url-beta.etherpad.com/') &&
+       !secondSpan.classList.contains('url-') &&
+       thirdSpan.classList.contains('url-beta.etherpad.com/') &&
+       !thirdSpan.classList.contains('url-') &&
+       secondSpan.classList.contains('b');
+   });
+ });
 });