The internet is the main battlefield for copyright protection in China because of the large number of users, rich application of works and rapid growth of the digital economy, a senior official from the country's copyright authority said on Tuesday.

The scale of the country's digital economy ranks second in the world, said Zhao Xiuling, deputy director of the Copyright Department of the National Copyright Administration.

Of the top 20 global internet companies last year, 11 were in the United States and nine were in China, she said.

She made the remarks on Tuesday in a keynote speech at the International Forum on Copyright and Creative Industries in the Digital Economy: New Challenges and Opportunities.

As of last December, the number of netizens in the country was 829 million, and the number of mobile internet users stood at 817 million, Zhao said.

Of all the news read last year, 81.4 percent came from the internet, data from the forum showed. It added that 69.5 percent of music, 58.4 percent of games and 52.1 percent of literary works were accessed online.

Figures from courts nationwide show that among cases pertaining to intellectual property, copyright infringement accounts for the highest proportion and is growing the fastest.

From 2005 to last year, 6,266 websites involved in infringement and piracy were closed, nearly 4 million pirated products were confiscated and 6,647 infringement and piracy cases were investigated under the implementation of Swordnet Special Actions.

Lai Mingfang contributed to this story.