Record industry picks fight with 300 companies

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has contacted 300 companies, warning them that users on their networks are using illegal file-sharing services, and threatened them with legal action.

The RIAA has previously issued blanket warnings to all companies about the dangers of employees downloading copyrighted material via their network - but now it has identified some of the worst offenders and written to each of them.

Last year the RIAA wrote to every Fortune 1000 company issuing a warning of legal action against those who tolerate file-sharing and illegal downloading on their network. Whether this is just more posturing from an increasingly desperate music industry is unclear.

Each recipient of the letter also received a CD which detailed logs of copyrighted files that are being shared with services such as KaZaA.

According to a report on Reuters, the letter said: "Your computer network and resources are being used to illegally distribute copyrighted music on the internet. We strongly urge you to take immediate steps to prevent the continued infringement of our members' sound recordings on your corporate network. These acts of infringement could expose your employees and your company to significant legal damages."

The RIAA declined to disclose which companies received the letter.