The music industry is seeking thousands of euro in damages from 17 people in the Republic who it claims have shared music tracks illegally over the internet.
The names of the individuals are not yet known, but may include the parents of children who use hugely popular file-sharing software such as Kazaa.
The Irish Recorded Music Association (Irma) said yesterday it had gathered evidence against what it described as "serial uploaders" of music.
The proposed legal action is the first example of cases taken against illegal file-sharers of music in the Republic. But more than 900 similar cases were lodged yesterday in 11 countries in Europe and Asia by the music industry, which says illegal downloading of music on the internet is costing hundreds of millions of euro in lost sales every year.
Over the past two years the music industry has attempted to discourage people who use file-sharing networks from exchanging music tracks free.
The networks, such as Kazaa and Gnutella, enable people with a broadband connection to download music tracks to their computers in just a few minutes.
In the Republic people found guilty of breaching copyright are liable to a fine of €1,900 for each track uploaded or downloaded, or six months in prison. However, Irma said it would pursue damages and legal costs rather than seek criminal prosecutions.
Irma does not yet know the names of the 17 individuals that supplied music over the internet but has asked internet service providers to identify them.
Irma said it plans to go to the High Court to force internet service providers to name the customers if they refuse.
Evidence gathered by consultants appointed by Irma show that the worst offender had offered more than 3,000 songs stored on a computer to other people.
The average number of music tracks uploaded by the top six offenders was 2,000, according to Dick Doyle, director general of Irma.
Mr Doyle said the profile of people found to be sharing music over the internet showed that about three-quarters were male and most were over the age of 25.
However, he said it was possible that parents of children might be identified as the owners of internet accounts. In these cases parents would be prosecuted, said Mr Doyle, who added that litigation was the best way to increase awareness of the issue.
The legal campaign will initially target the suppliers or "uploaders" of music on the web rather than people who only download music.
However, Irma said it might extend its legal campaign. It said the move followed a 15-month education campaign to raise awareness of the issue of copyright protection in the music industry in Ireland.
Irma said abuse of copyright on the internet had contributed to a €28 million drop in music sales in Ireland between 2001 and 2004, a decline of 19 per cent.
The total number of cases taken by the music industry against illegal file sharers is now 11,552 worldwide. In Europe, 248 individuals have already paid average fines of €3,000 each.