# Hypothetical re: US copyright law **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-re-us-copyright-law/648040 "2013-01-22T20:54:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-re-us-copyright-law/648040/1 "2013-01-22T20:54:38Z")
I was reading up on U.S. and Canadian copyright law recently, and a hypothetical situation occurred to me. For those who don’t know, Canadian copyright terms are different from U.S. copyright terms, with the result that there are many works that are in the public domain in Canada but not in the U.S. An example of this, if I’m not mistaken, would be _The Great Gatsby_, which is still under copyright in the U.S. (having been published after 1923) but is in the public domain in Canada (since F. Scott Fitzgerald died more than 50 years ago.) So here’s the hypothetical: is it legal under U.S. copyright law (or other U.S. laws) for a U.S. resident to travel to Canada, download a copy of _The Great Gatsby_ to their laptop, and then bring it back to the U.S. for their own personal use? Assume that this hypothetical person never sells or gives away this electronic copy. Is the answer different if he/she buys a physical copy of the novel from the airport bookstore in Toronto? Please note that I’m not asking about this person’s practical chances of getting caught, which are presumably minimal. I’m asking about what the letter of the law says, and U.S. intellectual property law has gotten sufficiently baroque in recent years (especially with regard to electronic documents) that I couldn’t answer this question for myself with any confidence. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-re-us-copyright-law/648040/2 "2013-01-22T22:04:22Z")
Buying the novel isn’t a violation. You’re not making a copy; that was done by the publisher. If it’s a Canadian publisher, it’s within their rights. For the download, I don’t think there’s any case law on which to make a determination, but, as a practical matter, no one will care. If they try to take it to court, it would depend on the judge, but since it was public domain in Canada and the computer was in Canada when you downloaded, it would most likely be the same as buying the book there. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-re-us-copyright-law/648040/3 "2013-01-22T22:36:13Z")
And the copy in the Canadian bookstore might have been published by someone who did not obtain the permission of whoever owns the copyright in the US and so might be closer akin to a downloaded copy than you think. As a hypothetical, you could print out the book to paper while in Canada and say you self-published it there as a legal copy. I know that many US publishers put out editions of works that are in the public domain here - it’s possible that some of those works might be copyrighted in foreign lands. ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-re-us-copyright-law/648040/4 "2013-01-22T22:55:50Z")
Actually, that would depend on where the work in question was first copyrighted. This issue is addressed by the ‘rule of the shorter term’, a principle that’s included in the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions. Assuming ‘The Great Gatsby’ was first copyrighted in the US, it would not be legal to bring that copy into the US, since it is still protected by copyright here, and has supposedly not been approved by the current copyright holder. It’s the same principle as any other item which is legal in one country but not another. If, on the other hand, the book were first copyrighted in Canada, their copyright term would apply here in the US. Cites: > **[Berne Convention](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works)** > > The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, was an international assembly held in 1886 in the Swiss city of Bern by ten European countries with the goal to agree on a set of legal principles for the protection of original work. They drafted and adopted a multi-party contract containing agreements for a uniform, crossing border system that became known under the same name. Its rules have been updated many times since then. As ... > **[Rule of the shorter term | Fundamentals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_the_shorter_term#Fundamentals)** > > International copyright treaties such as the Berne Convention (BC) or the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) work through national treatment: signatory countries agree to grant copyright to foreign works under their local laws and by the same rules they grant copyright to domestic works. Whether a work is eligible to copyright, and if so, for how long that copyright exists, is governed by the laws of the country where copyright on the work is claimed. The Berne Convention and also the UCC de On...