diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4e5d44720a..2310ef9376 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).
 - [#2109](https://github.com/plotly/dash/pull/2109) Add `maxHeight` to Dropdown options menu.
 
 ### Fixed
+- [#2114](https://github.com/plotly/dash/pull/2114) Fix bug [#1978](https://github.com/plotly/dash/issues/1978) where text could not be copied from cells in tables with `cell_selectable=False`.
 - [#2102](https://github.com/plotly/dash/pull/2102) Fix bug as reported in [dash-labs #113](https://github.com/plotly/dash-labs/issues/113) where files starting with `.` were not excluded when building `dash.page_registry`.
 - [#2098](https://github.com/plotly/dash/pull/2098) Accept HTTP code 400 as well as 401 for JWT expiry
 - [#2097](https://github.com/plotly/dash/pull/2097) Fix bug [#2095](https://github.com/plotly/dash/issues/2095) with TypeScript compiler and `React.FC` empty valueDeclaration error & support empty props components.
diff --git a/components/dash-table/src/dash-table/components/ControlledTable/index.tsx b/components/dash-table/src/dash-table/components/ControlledTable/index.tsx
index 9248829670..91d6f77c17 100644
--- a/components/dash-table/src/dash-table/components/ControlledTable/index.tsx
+++ b/components/dash-table/src/dash-table/components/ControlledTable/index.tsx
@@ -794,14 +794,17 @@ export default class ControlledTable extends PureComponent<ControlledTableProps>
             include_headers_on_copy_paste
         } = this.props;
 
-        TableClipboardHelper.toClipboard(
-            e,
-            selected_cells,
-            columns,
-            visibleColumns,
-            viewport.data,
-            include_headers_on_copy_paste
-        );
+        // if no cells are selected, fall back to the browser's default copy event handling
+        if (selected_cells.length) {
+            TableClipboardHelper.toClipboard(
+                e,
+                selected_cells,
+                columns,
+                visibleColumns,
+                viewport.data,
+                include_headers_on_copy_paste
+            );
+        }
         this.$el.focus();
     };
 
diff --git a/components/dash-table/src/dash-table/components/Table/Table.less b/components/dash-table/src/dash-table/components/Table/Table.less
index 4677d77c05..bf2b5ffadf 100644
--- a/components/dash-table/src/dash-table/components/Table/Table.less
+++ b/components/dash-table/src/dash-table/components/Table/Table.less
@@ -427,7 +427,7 @@
                     height: 100%;
                     width: 100%;
 
-                    &.unfocused::selection {
+                    &.unfocused.selectable::selection {
                         background-color: transparent;
                     }
 
diff --git a/components/dash-table/src/dash-table/derived/cell/contents.tsx b/components/dash-table/src/dash-table/derived/cell/contents.tsx
index 6797b83248..fa04207c07 100644
--- a/components/dash-table/src/dash-table/derived/cell/contents.tsx
+++ b/components/dash-table/src/dash-table/derived/cell/contents.tsx
@@ -64,10 +64,13 @@ function getCellType(
 export default (propsFn: () => ICellFactoryProps) => new Contents(propsFn);
 
 class Contents {
+    private cell_selectable: boolean;
     constructor(
         propsFn: () => ICellFactoryProps,
         private readonly handlers = derivedCellEventHandlerProps(propsFn)
-    ) {}
+    ) {
+        this.cell_selectable = propsFn().cell_selectable;
+    }
 
     partialGet = memoizeOne(
         (
@@ -167,6 +170,7 @@ class Contents {
         const className = [
             ...(active ? ['input-active'] : []),
             isFocused ? 'focused' : 'unfocused',
+            ...(this.cell_selectable ? ['selectable'] : []),
             'dash-cell-value'
         ].join(' ');
 
diff --git a/components/dash-table/tests/selenium/test_basic_copy_paste.py b/components/dash-table/tests/selenium/test_basic_copy_paste.py
index ba6228bafd..813b36a6a7 100644
--- a/components/dash-table/tests/selenium/test_basic_copy_paste.py
+++ b/components/dash-table/tests/selenium/test_basic_copy_paste.py
@@ -42,6 +42,15 @@ def get_app():
                 sort_action="native",
                 include_headers_on_copy_paste=True,
             ),
+            DataTable(
+                id="table3",
+                data=df[0:10],
+                columns=[
+                    {"name": i, "id": i, "deletable": True} for i in rawDf.columns
+                ],
+                cell_selectable=False,
+                sort_action="native",
+            ),
         ]
     )
 
@@ -301,3 +310,27 @@ def test_tbcp009_copy_9_and_10_click(test):
             )
 
     assert test.get_log_errors() == []
+
+
+def test_tbcp010_copy_from_unselectable_cells_table(test):
+    test.start_server(get_app())
+
+    source = test.table("table3")  # this table has cell_selectable=False
+    target = test.table("table2")
+
+    # double click cell to (natively) mark the contained text
+    source.cell(2, 2).double_click()
+    assert source.cell(2, 2).get_text() == test.get_selected_text()
+
+    # copy the source text to clipboard using CTRL+C
+    test.copy()
+
+    # assert the target cell value is different before paste
+    target.cell(1, 1).click()
+    assert target.cell(1, 1).get_text() != source.cell(2, 2).get_text()
+
+    # assert the target cell value has changed to the pasted value
+    test.paste()
+    assert target.cell(1, 1).get_text() == source.cell(2, 2).get_text()
+
+    assert test.get_log_errors() == []