THE biggest global clampdown on illegal file sharing was implemented yesterday by the music industry with 963 people across Europe and Asia facing legal action.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the record industry’s trade association, initiated cases against 33 people in Britain as part of the campaign. The number of cases it has brought since October last year is 90.

It is the third time that the association has focused on music downloaders. The 26 people caught in the first wave, from a student and the director of an IT company to a councillor, have agreed to pay settlements totalling more than £50,000.

Last month it was announced that a further 31 people were being investigated. They will receive letters today after the disclosure of their identities by internet service providers.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) initiated actions in ten other countries including the Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, Iceland and Japan for the first time. The Japanese market has been badly damaged by internet piracy and other factors in recent years, losing 200 billion yen (£980 million) between 2000 and 2004.

Geoff Taylor, the BPI’s leading lawyer, said: “We have warned people time and again that unauthorised file sharing is against the law. Anyone engaged in this activity faces having to pay thousands of pounds in compensation. It’s now easy to get music online legally.”

Yesterday’s action brought the total number of cases to 11,552 worldwide. British singles sales have slumped by more than 50 per cent since 1999, when downloading took off. Illegal downloaders spend as much as 32 per cent less on albums and 59 per cent less on singles, according to BPI research. Yet sales of CD albums in the UK have risen, bucking the global trend.

Record labels are concerned that album sales will decline in the same way as singles, once broadband — which rapidly speeds the process of downloading — is more widely available. Yesterday’s lawsuits affect users of the popular KaZaA file-sharing network and newer file-sharing services including eDonkey and BitTorrent.

The BPI will go to the High Court next week to attempt to disclose the identities of those it believes have been uploading thousands of music files illegally. They face civil action seeking an injunction and damages.

This week sales of legal downloads, which have been incorporated into the Top 40, are set to overtake CD singles sales for the first time this year.

But taking illegal downloaders to court has proved controversial. The parents of Brianna LaHara, a 12-year-old American girl, paid $2,000 (£1,175) after she was accused of illegally swapping songs online.

John Kennedy, the IFPI chairman, said: “These lawsuits are not going to stop. We stop when piracy gets to zero.” The IFPI is sending out brochures to companies and universities in Britain making them aware of the risks of allowing their computer networks to be used for widescale downloading.

Smaller record companies last night gave warning that the new combined chart could be rigged by multiple download sales. Sales from iTunes, Napster and other leading online stores will be counted and 2,000 downloads bought for just 79p each could catapult a song into the Top 20.

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