New official data has indicated success in a central government drive to check procurement and use of pirated software by governments of all levels as well as institutional and corporate users.

Since the campaign was launched in October 2012, governments at different levels have legally purchased 3.06 million sets of software worth 1.94 billion yuan (313 million US dollars), according to a report published by the National Copyright Administration of China.

The Chinese government began paying due attention to the issue in 2001, when an inter-ministerial meeting mechanism was set up, since adopting a series of efforts to correct wrongdoing at central and local levels, the report says.

So far, 17,782 large companies in China have been confirmed to be using genuine software in their offices.

To help increase awareness of copyright protection, 1,494 training courses have been held across the country, covering a total of 84,100 office workers.