China has shut down more than 100 Web sites for copyright violations since a new regulation came into effect in July, state media, quoted by an AFP report said.
The AFP report said the Web sites included those that provided free downloads of movies and music, according to the Xinhua news agency.
The government passed the regulation in a bid to ban the uploading and downloading of Internet material without permission of the copyright-holder, Xinhua said.
Under the regulation, anyone uploading texts, performances, sound and video recordings to the Internet for downloading, or copying, must have permission from copyright owners and pay the required fee, the AFP report said.
'Since the regulation took effect on July 1, the administration has enhanced supervision and punishment of online copyright violation,' Liu Jie, deputy director of the copyright department with China's National Copyright Administration, was quoted as saying.
The number of Web sites offering such illegal downloading will continue to decrease as authorities continue the crackdown, Liu said.
Details of the closed Web sites were not given but some of the cases are being considered for criminal prosecution, Xinhua said.