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

The three-month campaign will target illegal websites and their operators, who provide downloads of materials they don't have the right to sell, said the NAC.

"Internet piracy is not just an obstacle to the construction of building a harmonious Internet culture, it is also causing very bad influence in the international community,"said Long Xinmin, head of the administration.

He added that only by strengthened efforts in the crackdown on Internet piracy, can China soundly develop its Internet.

The NAC has investigated 302 cases Internet piracy cases across the country since the campaign began on Sept. 30, more than double the cases of last year.

This shows that Internet piracy is still rampant in China, said Wang Ziqiang, spokesman of the NAC.

The NAC expected over the coming months, it will complete its fully investigation, close a number of illegal websites and punish who operate them.

Of the cases being investigated, more than 100 are related to software piracy, 80 related to film downloading and 49 to music.

Wang said the Chinese capital of Beijing has the most cases, followed by Shanghai and Zhejiang Province, both in east China.

A Chinese 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.

Source: Xinhua