This will be the first post in a long series about amendments to the Canadian Copyright Act.

For ease of reference, I recommend that you open the Copyright Act with all revisions in a new window.

The first few changes are to Section 2 of the Copyright Act.

First of all, the definition of “moral rights” is amended to reflect the new reality that moral rights will now also cover performers’ performances. I will discuss this amendment as I get to the new s. 17.1 of the Act.

Second, the definitions section now also contains references to “WCT country” and “WPPT country”. The former means a country that is a party to WIPO Copyright Treaty, and the latter means a country that is a party to WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. It would be logical to conclude that Canada, having signed the 1996 WIPO treaties on December 22, 1997 will finally implement them some 15 years later.

The term “treaty country” has been amended to also include WCT countries (but not WPPT countries). This is done because the term “treaty country” is only used with respect to copyright in works throughout the Act, not copyright in the other subject-matter.

BOTTOM LINE: the changes to s. 2 of the new Copyright Act are merely technical, so my assessment of the amendments is neutral.