Я нашел два разных подхода к копированию при записи (COW):
COW Poiner
COWPtr<Object> cow(&obj);
const COWPtr<Object> &cow_ref = cow;
std::cout << cow_ref->name; // operator->() doesn't copy the object because its const overload is used
cow->name = "my object"; // here non const operator->() copies the object
(*cow).name // operator*() also copies the underlying object
Метод WRITE от Adobe stlab
COW<Object> cow(&obj);
std::cout << cow->name; // the object is not copied
cow.write().name = "my object"; // the object is copied here