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In the first ruling of its kind in this country a Norfolk man must make an immediate payment of £5,000, plus meet additional costs estimated at £13,500 and damages. A Brighton man was ordered to pay £1,500 now with costs and damages to be assessed later.

This is the first time that the legality of file sharing has been tested. The Norfolk man argued that the BPI had no direct evidence that he had made files available for others to download, but his defence was rejected out-of-hand and a judgment was made without a trial. The postman from Brighton said that he did not know that what he was doing was illegal and he had not sought financial gain.

His case was also thrown out of court: 'Ignorance is not a defence,' said Judge Justice

'The courts have spoken and their verdict is unequivocal: unauthorised filesharing is against the law, said BPI chairman Peter Jamieson. 'We have long said that unauthorised filesharing is damaging the music industry and stealing the future of artists and the people who invest in them. Here is clear confirmation of what we also said - that unauthorised filesharing is illegal.'

Three more cases have yet to be heard while more than 100 other alleged sharers settled out-of-court. The remainder have until 31 January to settle or face court action.

'We have been very patient litigators,' BPI general counsel Roz Groome said. 'We have given these people every opportunity to settle. Only when they refused to settle did we take them to court, which has now found in our favour. These rulings are a massive step forward in the music industry's bid to fight illegal filesharing.'

She added that: 'We would warn anyone else tempted to illegally upload and download music to cease immediately. The legal penalties can be significant'

The BPI's legal campaign against 'serial uploaders' recently received tacit backing from the government.

Huw Irranca-Davies, parliamentary private secretary to culture secretary Tessa Jowell, described file sharers as 'unscrupulous' and 'misguided'.