copyright public-domain us-federal-government
Can the US Government assert copyright on a government work internationally?
<p>From what I understand, large swaths of US Government works are considered  "public domain", but this unrestricted status applies only <em>within the United States</em>, </p>

<p>For this question I am assuming the work is unambiguously a US Federal Government work that would otherwise be public domain to someone within the US.</p>

<p>Can the US Government claim copyright to this work internationally?</p>

<p>and optionally:</p>

<p>Has there ever been an instance of the US Government defending the copyright of such a work internationally?</p>

<p><a href="https://www.cendi.gov/publications/FAQ_Copyright_30jan18.html#_Toc505089933" rel="nofollow noreferrer">According to CENDI</a>, yes the US government is able to claim copyright on works internationally.</p>

<p>The law in question which makes US government works public domain in the US (<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/105" rel="nofollow noreferrer">17 U.S. Code § 105</a>) only does so within the confines of US copyright. Since copyright protection is on a per-country basis, there's no reason that the US government couldn't assert IP rights under foreign copyright law (though I didn't go looking for an example).</p>

<p>While the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Berne Convention</a> generally requires countries to provide foreign works the same protection as domestic works, I can think of two general reasons why US government works wouldn't fall under copyright protection in some countries:</p>

<ul>
<li>The country simply doesn't apply copyright protection to any government works (don't know how common this is).</li>
<li>The country applies the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_the_shorter_term" rel="nofollow noreferrer">rule of the shorter term</a>. If they do, they aren't required to provide a longer term of protection than the country of origin does (which is nil in this case).</li>
</ul>
