Section 22 of the new Copyright Act only has some cosmetic changes.

The Minister will have the right to grant reciprocal protection not only to countries other than the Rome Convention countries, but also to countries other than WPPT countries.

The only issue I see with this change is that the conjunction “OR” is used. Sections 22(1) and 22(2) now use the following construction to refer to countries to which reciprocal provisions may apply:

”…country other than a Rome Convention country OR a WPPT country”

Logically, a WPPT country falls within the definition of a "country other than a Rome Convention country or a WPPT country". Likewise, a Rome Convention country falls within the definition of a "country other than a Rome Convention country or a WPPT country".

In fairness, I don’t see any particular risks associated with this lack of precision, but it is still unfortunate.

BOTTOM LINE: Changes are merely cosmetic, even though the make up could have been better.