The record industry has won a landmark court case forcing two people caught illegally swapping music on the internet to pay bills of thousands of pounds.

In the first case of its kind in the UK, the two men were ordered to make immediate payments of between £1,500 and £5,000. They will also have to pay costs, estimated at £13,500, and damages, which will be set at a later court hearing.

The men, who have not been identified, were among five people who failed to reach an out-of-court settlement with the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which began civil court proceedings against them in August last year. Between them, the five were accused of making 8,906 songs available for internet users to download from their computers. The other three civil cases are pending.

One of the two defendants, from King’s Lynn in Norfolk, said in his defence that the BPI had no direct evidence of infringement. The other, a father of two and postman from Brighton, said that he was unaware that what he was doing was illegal and did not seek to gain financially.

Both cases were rejected by the High Court and summary judgment was granted to the BPI without the need for a trial. "Ignorance is not a defence," said Judge Justice Lawrence Collins.

The BPI has settled the majority of the 139 legal cases it has launched against individual file sharers since October 2004, with some paying up to £6,500 to avoid a court case.

The BPI announced in October 2004 that 28 music fans would become the first people in Britain to be sued by the record industry for illegal file-sharing. In March last year, it launched a fresh wave of action and announced that 23 of the initial tranche of people had agreed settlements averaging £2,000.

It is currently seeking settlements in a further 51 cases launched last December, and has given file sharers a deadline of January 31 to settle cases and avoid court action.

The BPI says that illegal file sharing has contributed to the decline in sales of British singles, of which sales have more than halved since 1999. Peter Jamieson, the group’s chairman, said, "The courts have spoken and their verdict is unequivocal: unauthorised file sharing is against the law.

"We have long said that unauthorised file sharing 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 file sharing is illegal."

The BPI’s general counsel, Roz Groome, said: "We have been very patient litigators. 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 file sharing.

"We would warn anyone else tempted to illegally upload and download music to cease immediately. The legal penalties can be significant."

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