Can whiskey distilled in America be called scotch?

There are several distilleries that claim to be distilling scotch whiskey outside of Scotland, such as the Glen Breton whiskey distilled by Glenora Distilleries in Cape Breton, NS, Canada. These claims are based on the Scottish Heritage of the region from which it is made and the efforts to fashion it according to traditional recipes and practices from Scotland. Realistically though, no whiskey made out of Scotland can properly be called Scotch any more than a whiskey made in Japan can be called Irish Whiskey as it is simply a title for the country of origin. A better term for such claimants would be "scotch-style" whiskey.

The ironic thing is that, while Scotch tends to have a distinctive taste, which is derived largely from the practice of using peat fires in the distilling process, many modern Scottish distilleries do not follow this process and are indistinguishable from any other mass produced generic whiskey. In spite of this they are still able to legitimately title their products as scotch. Whiskeys like Glen Breton that try to follow the traditional practices will taste much more like what many expect from a scotch because of the peaty tones they produce, but are not in fact scotch.

(Although I describe the peatiness of scotch as its distinguishing characteristic, many traditional scotch whiskeys have never had this characteristic. This taste tends to characterise scotch because most of the very popular, widely marketed scotches ie. Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie, Oban, Chivas Regal, Jonnie Walker, have some level of peetiness. Realistically range of taste, highlight, and finish in scotch is no less diverse than anywhere else in the world.)