Canada is working with the U.S. to tackle movie and Internet piracy, but must do more to get off Washington’s piracy watch list.

That finding was contained in the 2008 Special 301 Report, issued April 25 by the Office of the United States Trade Representative in Washington, D.C.

The 18-page report said Canada has participated in a new international move on intellectual property infringements, and that a trilateral intellectual property rights action plan had been drawn up by the U.S., Canadian and Mexican governments as part of the NAFTA regime.

But the USTR report said Canada had to do more to tackle Internet piracy, not least by signing the WIPO Internet treaties.

‘Internet piracy is a significant concern in a number of countries, including Canada, China, Sweden, Spain and Russia, among others,’ the report said as it placed Canada on a ‘lower level Watch list.’

‘Canada has taken some significant steps in the past year and, given the importance of the outstanding issues and maturity of its economy, we look forward to additional action in the coming months on IP reforms identified as key priorities by the government of Canada,’ the USTR added.

The Motion Picture Association of America, which lobbies on behalf of the major studios, said in its own commentary on the 2008 Special 301 Report that Canada warrants ‘priority attention’ from the USTR as the U.S. agency attempts to stamp out movie piracy.

MPAA chief Dan Glickman argued in a letter that accompanies the latest USTR report that Canada provides ‘a safe haven’ for Internet pirates and has failed to bring its Internet laws into line with other western trading nations by signing the WIPO treaties.

The Canadian government last summer bowed to pressure from Hollywood and passed Bill C-59, which made it illegal to record a movie in a cinema for commercial distribution.