diff --git a/util/build-packages b/util/build-packages
index 507c7e90..2fadbe23 100755
--- a/util/build-packages
+++ b/util/build-packages
@@ -181,8 +181,8 @@ update_copyright_year() {
    echo -n "Updating copyright year in tools... "
    cd $BRANCH/bin
    for tool_file in *; do
-      local copyright=$(grep "[0-9] Percona Inc." $tool_file);
-      local new_copyright=$(../util/new-copyright-year $YEAR "$copyright")
+      local copyright="$(grep "[0-9] Percona Inc." $tool_file)"
+      local new_copyright="$(../util/new-copyright-year "$YEAR" "$copyright")"
       if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
          die "Error parsing copyright year in $tool_file"
       fi
@@ -196,8 +196,8 @@ update_copyright_year() {
 
    echo -n "Updating copyright year in percona-toolkit.pod... "
    local pod=$DOCS_DIR/percona-toolkit.pod
-   local copyright=$(grep "[0-9] Percona Inc." $pod)
-   local new_copyright=$(../util/new-copyright-year $YEAR "$copyright")
+   local copyright="$(grep "[0-9] Percona Inc." $pod)"
+   local new_copyright="$(../util/new-copyright-year "$YEAR" "$copyright")"
    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
       die "Error parsing copyright year in percona-toolkit.pod"
    fi