Chinese Internet game firms announced on Saturday the founding here of an association for the protection of online game copyrights.

Launched with guidance from China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), the China Online Game Copyright Protection Union seeks to become a professional platform for copyright protection in the online game industry and to facilitate the industry's healthy development, according to GAPP officials.

Among the union's 16 founding members are China's major online game developers and operators, including Changyou.com, a subsidiary of Sohu.com, Shanda Games Limited, Netease.com, Inc., Giant Interactive Group and Kingsoft Corporation Limited.

China's online game sales were 25.6 billion yuan (3.86 billion U.S. dollars) in 2009, up 39 percent year on year, according to officials.