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Internet users in three countries, Brazil, Mexico and Poland, are being targeted for the first time. The IFPI, the major record companies international umbrella group, estimates that in Brazil alone, where record company revenues have fallen more than 40 per cent since 2000, more than one billion music tracks were downloaded last year.

The UK has escaped this wave of lawsuits, but Net users in Argentina, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore and Switzerland may not be so fortunate.

In Argentina, Austria, Brazil criminal as well as civil suits have been brought against 'uploaders' alleged to have put hundreds or thousands of copyrighted

The IFPI says that more than 2,300 of people have already paid an average of €2,420 to settle previous cases and boasts that in in Argentina, 'one mother made her son sell off his car to pay her back the settlement fee'.

John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of IFPI, said that the it was with reluctance that legal action was continued but insisted there is no excuse.

'Consumers today can get music legally in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago with over three million tracks available on nearly 400 sites worldwide as well as an array of mobile platforms,' Kennedy said. 'Yet some people continue to consume their music illegally, refusing to respect the creative work of artists, songwriters and record producers.'

The lawsuits come just days after the US record industry, in the shape of the major labels' Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), announced a six per cent year-on-year decline in music sales, despite a surge in digital sales.

'Online and hard goods piracy continue to hit the industry hard and no doubt had an impact on our mid-year results,' Mitch Bainwol, chairman and CEO of RIAA. 'Competition for spending on entertainment, especially in a tough economy, likely played a factor too.'