diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/unistr.cpp b/icu4c/source/common/unistr.cpp
index 077b4d6ef20..918693898d1 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/unistr.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/unistr.cpp
@@ -334,7 +334,8 @@ Replaceable::clone() const {
 // UnicodeString overrides clone() with a real implementation
 UnicodeString *
 UnicodeString::clone() const {
-  return new UnicodeString(*this);
+  LocalPointer<UnicodeString> clonedString(new UnicodeString(*this));
+  return clonedString.isValid() && !clonedString->isBogus() ? clonedString.orphan() : nullptr;
 }
 
 //========================================
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/ustrtest.cpp b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/ustrtest.cpp
index cd9751d761b..11bbb6e27af 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/ustrtest.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/ustrtest.cpp
@@ -1653,6 +1653,16 @@ UnicodeStringTest::TestBogus() {
     if(test1>=test2 || !(test2>test1) || test1.compare(test2)>=0 || !(test2.compare(test1)>0)) {
         errln("bogus<empty failed");
     }
+
+    // test that copy constructor of bogus is bogus & clone of bogus is nullptr
+    {
+        test3.setToBogus();
+        UnicodeString test3Copy(test3);
+        UnicodeString *test3Clone = test3.clone();
+        assertTrue(WHERE, test3.isBogus());
+        assertTrue(WHERE, test3Copy.isBogus());
+        assertTrue(WHERE, test3Clone == nullptr);
+    }
 }
 
 // StringEnumeration ------------------------------------------------------- ***