diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailadmin/views/pages.py b/wagtail/wagtailadmin/views/pages.py
index 926dccb96..303c42f33 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailadmin/views/pages.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailadmin/views/pages.py
@@ -631,7 +631,7 @@ def copy(request, page_id):
 
         # Unpublish copied pages if we need to
         if not publish_copies:
-            new_page.get_descendants(inclusive=True).update(live=False, has_unpublished_changes=True)
+            new_page.get_descendants(inclusive=True).unpublish()
 
         # Assign user of this request as the owner of all the new pages
         new_page.get_descendants(inclusive=True).update(owner=request.user)
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailcore/query.py b/wagtail/wagtailcore/query.py
index 0f02fe8aa..cc86d52b7 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailcore/query.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailcore/query.py
@@ -198,3 +198,9 @@ class PageQuerySet(MP_NodeQuerySet):
         """
         search_backend = get_search_backend(backend)
         return search_backend.search(query_string, self, fields=None)
+
+    def unpublish(self):
+        """
+        This unpublishes all pages in the queryset
+        """
+        self.update(live=False, has_unpublished_changes=True)