Importing P.D. to a non-P.D. country

[jamesch]

Perhaps this has been answered previously (I did a search previously).

Is it legal for an item which is P.D. in Canada but not in the UK to be downloaded and printed from IMSLP in Canada and then imported to the UK? How would proof of printing in Canada be established or is it unnecessary?

Any advice is gratefully received.

James.

[steltz]

The problem is that if it is not PD in England and that is where you are using it, then it doesn't matter if it was legally printed in Canada, it still isn't legal for you to use anything other than an original in England. There might be some leeway under the "fair use" clause, and I don't know how that is determined in England, but certainly performance wouldn't be allowed.

Don't worry about legality of where it is printed, worry about legality where you are using it -- otherwise you have the shoe on the wrong foot.

[jamesch]

Ok, this is very helpful for my requirements: though it could be interesting to see what the consequences would be for, say, a Canadian choir singing a piece of Vaughan Williams printed P.D. in Canada whilst on a Cathedral (services-only) tour of the UK....

[steltz]

. . . a Canadian choir singing a piece of Vaughan Williams printed P.D. in Canada whilst on a Cathedral (services-only) tour of the UK

will need to get originals that are legal in the UK for that performance.

As another example, I frequently have students that go to Europe to do graduate work. I live in a life+50 country, so there are a lot of things we can use photocopies for here that aren't legal in Europe. My students know before they leave what they can take with them and what they must replace with originals.

[daphnis]

This is indeed an interesting case. Stelz offered up some good advise, and to that I would say that you're probably only likely to get flack if you perform publicly for money, and large sums at that. Otherwise, there are bigger fish to fry...