Paste BitmapData from Clipboard in browser

Is is possible to paste BitmapData from the clipboard when using the browser? When I look at the  reference to the general clipboard it says the following properties "alive", "canReadContents" and "canWriteContents" are true. The formats array shows one entry for air:bitmap but when I try to access the data it returns null.

Code: 

           var clipboard:Clipboard = Clipboard.generalClipboard;           

           trace("Formats: " + clipboard.formats.join(","));

           var value:* = clipboard.getData(ClipboardFormats.BITMAP_FORMAT, ClipboardTransferMode.CLONE_ONLY);