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Simple English definitions for legal terms
rule of the shorter term
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A quick definition of rule of the shorter term:
The rule of the shorter term is a copyright provision that says a country doesn't have to protect a work for longer than the country where it was first published. This means that if a book is published in one country for 50 years of protection, another country doesn't have to protect it for more than 50 years.
A more thorough explanation:
The Rule of the Shorter Term is a provision of the Universal Copyright Convention. It means that a country is not required to give a longer period of protection to a work than the period it receives in the country where it was first published.
For example, if a book is first published in the United States and is protected by copyright for 70 years after the author's death, but in Canada, the same book is only protected for 50 years after the author's death, then the book will only be protected for 50 years in the United States if it is published there.
This rule is important because it ensures that copyright protection is consistent across different countries. It also prevents a work from being protected for an excessively long period of time in a country where it was not first published.