A new campaign to crack down on illegal computer downloads of films, music, software and textbooks has been launched by China's National Copyright Administration in the country's latest move to fight piracy, said the authorities.

The three-month long campaign will target illegal websites and their operators providing downloads of material they don't have the right to sell, said the NCA.

"Internet piracy is not just an obstacle to the construction of building a harmonious Internet culture it's also causing a very bad influence in the international community," said Long Xinmin, head of the administration. He added that only by strengthened efforts to crackdown on Internet piracy could China soundly develop its Internet.

The NCA has investigated 302 Internet piracy cases across the country since the campaign began on September 30. This is more than double that of last year and showed Internet piracy was still rampant in China, said Wang Ziqiang, NCA spokesman.

The NCA expected that over the coming months it would fully complete its investigation, close a number of illegal websites and punish those who operated them. Of the cases being investigated more than 100 are related to software piracy, 80 to film downloading and 49 to music.

Wang said the capital Beijing had the most cases followed by Shanghai and Zhejiang Province both in east China.

A regulation which banned the uploading and downloading of Internet materials without the permission of the copyright holder came into effect in July. Under the regulation anyone uploading texts, performances, sound and video recordings to the Internet for downloading or copying must have permission from copyright owners.

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2006)