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 do not 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 Tuesday.

China can develop its Internet only through a strengthened effort against Internet piracy, he added.

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

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

The NAC expects that it will complete its full investigation and close down illegal websites in the coming months.

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

Wang said Beijing has the highest number of piracy cases followed by Shanghai and Zhejiang province.

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 for downloading or copying must have the permission from the copyright owners.