The Irish music industry has announced it is to take legal action against 17 people who allegedly illegally download music on the Internet.
The Irish Recorded Music Association (Irma) said it will take the action against "serial filesharers" who illegally make copyrighted music available on the Internet.
Irma director general Dick Doyle
Irma is seeking damages and injunctions against the 17, who it claims have "illegally uploaded hundreds or thousands of music tracks onto peer-to-peer filesharing networks".
It is asking Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to release the names of the individuals they have "found to be abusing copyright on the Internet".
"The major filesharers subject to legal action include users of the filesharing network FastTrack - on which Kazaa runs - and the Gnutella network," Irma said.
Irma director general Dick Doyle claimed the top six offenders had uploaded "in excess of 2,000 illegal files, which is equivalent to 200 albums".
"This is wholesale mass distribution and is effectively stealing the livelihood of the creators of music.
"When you consider that each of these individuals could be connected to up to two million others at any one time, you begin to appreciate the scale of the damage. We have been issuing warnings for 15 months now. It is time to take action - we are not accepting this situation anymore."
Irma also claimed abuse of copyright on the Internet had contributed to a €28 million drop (19 per cent) in music sales in Ireland between 2001 and 2004.
The body said the current legal action comes after a "breakthrough year" for legitimate online music services. The action would give "crucial breathing space" to legal services, allowing them room to develop. Legal download services in Ireland include iTunes, Eircom Music Club, mycoke.com, vitaminc.com music club and wippit.co.uk
Irma's action comes alongside the international recording industry's announcement today that it is stepping up litigation against illegal filesharers worldwide.
IFPI, the organisation representing the recording industry, announced 963 new actions in 11 countries in Europe and Asia. It said this brings the total number of cases against illegal filesharers to 11,552 worldwide.
In Europe, 248 people sued by the music industry for illegal filesharing have paid average fines of €3,000, IFPI said.