The first wave of legal actions taken by the music industry has proved costly for several unsuspecting internet account holders who have agreed to pay damages to prevent future court action.
The High Court has barred the Irish Recorded Music Association (Irma) from releasing the names of the 17 account holders accused of sharing music illegally over the internet. But profiles of the eight internet account holders who have so far agreed to pay between €2,000 to €6,000 in damages to Irma show that parents are having to account for the online activities of their children.
Irma revealed yesterday that in at least one case a parent had accepted liability on behalf of their child, who had used the family computer to share music.
In another case a company has agreed to accept liability for the actions of one of its employees, who had used a company computer to share files.
Irma was able to pinpoint illegal uploaders of music by contracting the consultancy firm Media Sentry to gather evidence of illegal activity by Irish users of file-sharing networks. It monitored and logged 66 internet account holders who shared hundreds of music tracks in March. Irma then focused on the 17 internet account holders or "serial uploaders" who shared more than 500 tracks on the networks.
Irma went to the High Court to force the internet firms to provide the details on their clients.
For the nine internet account holders who have either not responded to Irma's threat of court action or refused to accept liability, an expensive court battle could lie ahead.
The industry group is threatening to sue the account holders for breach of copyright law, which carries a fine of up to €1,900 per track illegally shared.
This follows an international precedent, which has seen the music industry seek to "name and shame" illegal file sharers.
Since some parents have not yet accepted liability on behalf of their children in the 17 actions taken by Irma, it is possible that the courts will have to decide if they are responsible for their children's behaviour.