(Yicai Global) March 20 -- China's biggest microblog service Sina Weibo has penned a deal with the country's copyright watchdog to introduce a copyright certification system for premium original content creators on its site while also stepping up efforts to monitor piracy and infringements.

Platform operator Weibo Corp. has inked a deal with the Copyright Protection Center of China to implement the authority's Digital Copyright Identifier system allowing certification of content, Chinese news site Sina Tech reported.

The copyright certification mechanism on the platform, often described as a Chinese version of Twitter, will initially cover Weibo's own special content writers, premium members and nearly 10,000 famous users in the fields of finance, design and illustration. Weibo will provide copyright protection to well-known users when they post short-videos and Q&A sessions.

Eligible users will need to complete a registration through the DCI system and then posts submitted on the platform will display an exclusive certification code, as well as an electronic copyright certificate at the bottom of the webpage. This will make it more difficult for other platforms to use the content.

Weibo will also work with the above-mentioned copyright watchdog to monitor piracy and copyright infringement online and help copyright holders safeguard their legal rights. Once copyright infringement is found, the center will require users to take down copied content. If they refuse to do so, the copyright holders may file a lawsuit in accordance with the DCI certificate.

DCI is the Copyright Protection Center of China's innovative service system to provide copyright protection service online and features registration, expense settlement, monitoring and evidence collection.