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Lawyers acting on behalf of games-maker Topware Interactive wrote to 500 people it claimed were illegally sharing its games on peer to peer sites, demanding they pay £340 or be taken to court.

A British woman held out against the fine, but at a civil hearing in the patents county court in London a judge ordered her to pay £6,000 in damages to the games company, and cover their £10,000 lawyers' fee.

The case represents an escalation of the videogame industry's campaign

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against file sharers, which has so far seen law firms bombarding thousands of people with demands for cash settlements of between £300 and £700.

However, the court case represents a new statement of intent and one which the industry hopes will send out a clear message to file sharers.

"The damages and costs ordered by the Court are significant and should act as a deterrent," says David Gore, a partner at Davenport Lyons who acted for Topware.

"This shows that taking direct steps against infringers is an important and effective weapon in the battle against online piracy. This is the first of many. It was always intended that there would be a lot more."

Topware claims to have begun civil proceedings against a further 100 individuals, and Davenport Lyons says it is pursuing the details of another 7,000 IP addresses.

Read our investigation into the games industry's campaign against alleged file sharers here