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Canada joins the usual suspects on piracy watch list

For the first time, Canada joined the United States piracy watch list for countries that fail to protect U.S. copyright.

The apartment above the party, as Canada is sometimes called, joins the list for failing to reform its copyright laws and lax border control.

There are 12 countries on this year’s Priority Watch List: China, Russia, Algeria, Argentina, Canada, Chile, India, Indonesia, Israel, Pakistan, Thailand, and Venezuela.

Countries making the list are targeted by the U.S. for tough talks on their policies.

“In this time of economic uncertainty, we need to redouble our efforts to work with all of our trading partners,” said U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk in a statement.

China and Russia continue to hold the coveted top spots as the largest violators.

“I am particularly troubled by reports that Chinese officials are urging more lenient enforcement of [copyright] laws, motivated by the financial crisis and the need to maintain jobs,” Kirk said.

Odds are that Canada is going to speed up current negotiations on copyright law in its legislature to leave the company of the others on the list.