The number of software copyright registrations in 2013 was higher than in any previous year, reflecting an increased awareness of the importance of copyright protection, China's top copyright authority said on Wednesday.

A record number of 164,349 new software copyright registrations were received in 2013, a year-on-year increase of 18.04 percent, according to statistics released by the National Copyright Administration.

Beijing topped all municipalities and provinces with 41,721 registrations, a 6.64 percent increase on last year's figure. Guangdong and Shanghai followed with 26,535 and 14,990 registrations respectively.

The central and western regions of China saw the biggest increase, with Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions ranking top in terms of growth rates, the report said.

Meanwhile, the number of copyright registrations for works including photography, art and literature reached 845,064 in 2013, a 22.89 percent increase compared with 2012.

"The increase of copyright registrations reflects the fact that copyright holders are becoming more aware of the importance of intellectual rights," said Yu Cike, director of the administration's copyright department.

Yu said the public's growing demand for copyright protection is partly the result of the development of Internet technology and has brought new challenges for the agency. For one thing, the rise in applications means the administration must upgrade its copyright registration procedure.

"Making it more accessible and cheaper for the public, especially individual rights holders, to apply for registration will be our main focus in 2014," Yu said.

Tang Zhaozhi, deputy director of the copyright department, said the authority will soon launch a comprehensive online service platform, through which the public can register, trace and trade copyright licenses held on a nationwide database.

China began to register software copyright licenses in 1992 in a bid to protect the rights of software owners.

Contact the writer at sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn