I have my persistence.xml with the same name using TopLink under the META-INF directory.
Then, I have my code calling it with:
If you're using Maven, it could be that it is not looking at the right place for the META-INF folder. Others have mentioned copying the folder, but another way that worked for me was to tell Maven where to look for it, using the tag. See: http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-resources-plugin/examples/resource-directory.html