Chinese copyright inspectors are to conduct a nationwide sweep of local and central government computers to ensure they are using only authorized and genuine software.

Checks of computers in central government departments and agencies would be completed by May next year, said Yan Xiaohong, deputy head of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) and vice-director of National Copyright Administration (NCA) Tuesday.

The inspection of software used by local governments would be finished by October, Yan said in Beijing at a press conference to outline progress in a six-month crackdown on intellectual property rights (IPRs) infringements and fake products launched in October.

"Greater efforts will be made to establish a long-term mechanism comprising funding, procurement, utilization and asset management for ensuring the use of genuine software among government organs," Yan said.

The NCA and other government agencies jointly issued a circular in 2006, requiring all government bodies to buy only computers with pre-installed genuine operating system software and to allocate funds to buy authorized software.

Central government organizations spent a total of 794 million yuan (119 million U.S. dollars) on genuine software from 2007 to the end of 2009, according to official figures.

Authorities would also step up efforts to promote the use of authorized software by businesses, and launch a special campaign against the illegal pre-installation of unauthorized software on computers, said Yan.

"The fight against Internet-enabled IPR infringement, which remains a severe problem, is also a priority in the ongoing crackdown," he said, adding that the progress of related investigations will be publicized at an appropriate time.

China has since 2005 continued to crackdown on Internet-enabled IPR infringement, uncovering over 2,621 cases, Yan said.

Furthermore, government agencies will step up the fight against the distribution of fake medicine over the Internet and deal with the dissemination of false information concerning medicine over the Internet in accordance with the law, Deputy Minster of Commerce Jiang Zengwei said.