The usual convention for Object.clone() according to Oracle's Javadoc is that:

• x.clone() != x
• x.clone().getClass() == x.getClass()
• x.clone().equals(x)

Obtaining the object that will be returned by calling super.clone() helps to satisfy those invariants:

• super.clone() returns a new object instance
• super.clone() returns an object of the same type as the one clone() was called on
• Object.clone() performs a shallow copy of the object's state

For example, the following code:

class BaseClass implements Cloneable {
  @Override
  public Object clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {    // Non-Compliant - should return the super.clone() instance
    return new BaseClass();
  }
}

class DerivedClass extends BaseClass implements Cloneable {
  /* Does not override clone() */

  public void sayHello() {
    System.out.println("Hello, world!");
  }
}

class Application {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    DerivedClass instance = new DerivedClass();
    ((DerivedClass) instance.clone()).sayHello();              // Throws a ClassCastException because invariant #2 is violated
  }
}

should be refactored into:

class BaseClass implements Cloneable {
  @Override
  public Object clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {    // Compliant
    return super.clone();
  }
}

class DerivedClass extends BaseClass implements Cloneable {
  /* Does not override clone() */

  public void sayHello() {
    System.out.println("Hello, world!");
  }
}

class Application {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    DerivedClass instance = new DerivedClass();
    ((DerivedClass) instance.clone()).sayHello();              // Displays "Hello, world!" as expected. Invariant #2 is satisfied
  }
}