Joint efforts by relevant Chinese departments have cracked 172 web piracy cases and closed down 76 websites in a three-month crackdown over on-line piracy across the country, according to the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC).

Meanwhile, 137 websites were ordered to cancel illegal contents from their webs and owners of 29 websites were punished with a total fine of 789,000 yuan (about US$98,625).

The move was launched jointly by the Ministry of Public Security, the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Ministry of Information Industry as well as other relevant departments since September 2005.

Great headway has been made in the municipalities and provinces of Beijing, Hainan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Shanghai, Shandong and Guangdong in the crackdown on web piracy.

Eight of the cases suspected of criminal offence have been handed over to the judicial departments for criminal investigation, the NCAC said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2006)