BEIJING - Chinese police arrested 9,031 suspects over the course of a nine-month campaign designed to crack down on piracy and other intellectual property rights (IPR) infringements, a government official said on Tuesday.

A total of 12,854 illegal factories producing counterfeit goods were shut down and 4,904 criminal organizations responsible for selling the goods were broken up during the campaign, Jiang Zengwei, vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce, said at a press conference held by the State Council's Information Office.

Other administrative agencies across the country investigated 156,000 piracy cases during the campaign, with the total amount of money involved reaching 3.43 billion yuan ($540 million), said Jiang.

Jiang said that the campaign also helped to ensure that all government agencies would switch to using legal, copyrighted software instead of relying on counterfeit software.

According to an earlier statement from China's National Copyright Administration, all computer software used by China's 135 central government agencies is authorized and legitimate.

The campaign has been extended to government agencies at lower levels.

According to Jiang, the campaign will also include government-affiliated institutions and central state-owned enterprises.

"The Ministry of Finance previously asked central and local government agencies to list expenditures for copyrighted software purchases in their fiscal budgets. Budget audits showed that the achievements we have made in this area are authentic and guaranteed," he said.

He said software purchases should be conducted in a transparent manner.

"We have told local government agencies to follow the central government's practices. The government should always take the lead in IPR protection," he said.

The anti-piracy campaign was spearheaded by the State Council, or China's cabinet, and took place between October 2010 and June 2011.

"The campaign has concluded, but the government's efforts to combat piracy and counterfeiting will never end as long as such crimes continue to occur," Jiang said.

Jiang said the country will continue to offer administrative and judicial relief to IPR holders in order to protect their rights.

Efforts should be made to reduce IPR holders' costs in protecting their rights and to deter potential violators by imposing harsher punishments, he said.

Jiang said Chinese law offers equal protection to both Chinese and foreign IPR holders' rights.

In addition, the Chinese government is willing to listen to opinions and advice from foreign companies regarding IPR protection, he said.

The campaign's leading team previously organized symposiums and exchanges attended by government officials, foreign enterprise representatives and experts to discuss recent trends in the field of IPR protection.

The Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs have also established feedback systems in order to obtain opinions and comments from foreign IPR holders, Jiang said.

Jiang said that many large foreign companies, including international brands Louis Vuitton and Gucci, reported IPR violations during the course of the campaign. Several of these companies later wrote thank-you letters to the campaign's leading team to acknowledge their efforts.

"We welcome domestic and overseas media supervision, as long as their reports are truthful and objective," Jiang said.

Jiang admitted that China still faces many problems in the area of IPR protection.

"However, I do not agree with those who say that China's IPR protection situation is getting worse," he said.

"We need more time to solve these problems, but it should be noticed that we are making progress," he said.

An online exhibition demonstrating the achievements of the campaign can be found at www.ipraction.cn. The website was launched on Monday and will be accessible for three months.