Today marks the first time that the United States has marked Canada as a 'priority' problem in the fight against intellectual property theft. This puts the largest trading partner of the US in the same rogues gallery of pirates that includes Algeria, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia and Venezuela amongst others.

What is most interesting about the Jolly Rogers of the North though is that of major concern is...

Washington also wants Canada to put an end to the flow of pirated and counterfeit movies and DVDs that cross its porous borders. In particular, Washington wants Canadian customs officers to be given the authority to seize pirated materials rather than have to seek a court order each time they suspect a shipment. The flow of pirated and counterfeit material not only enters Canada from abroad but much of it winds up crossing into the United States. [from The Globe & Mail]

Colour me skeptical, but if illegal DVDs getting into the US is a major concern, shouldn't the US do a better job of defending it's border from the discs? It's not surprising that the IIRA (Illuminati of the copyright world) that encompasses the MPAA, RIAA and major software makers such as Apple and Microsoft are all pleased as punch about the decision, even though in the opinions of some Canada actually has better copyright laws than the US as IP lawyer Howard Knopf pointed out last year.

The same Mr. Knopf also points out in an article today that the US has also ignored WTO rulings and quotes Sir Hugh Laddie from a London Times article...

"Of course there is counterfeiting in China, but the same goes on in the US and Europe. Pro rata, the biggest source of pirated computer software in the world in the US.”

The song remains the same though...