THE Australian film and television industry has launched legal action against one of the largest internet service providers in the country for allowing its users to download pirated movies and TV shows.

The action against iiNet was filed in the Federal Court yesterday by Village Roadshow, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Disney and the Seven Network.

The chief operating officer of iiNet, Mark White, said the company did not support piracy in any form but it could not disconnect customers just because the movie industry claimed they engaged in illegal downloading.

The legal action followed a five-month investigation by the industry, said Adrianne Pecotic, the executive director of the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft.

"We identified thousands of infringements of copyright by iiNet's customers and we provided iiNet with about 18 separate notices of those infringements and, unfortunately, iiNet did not do anything to address that copyright infringement," she said.

Ms Pecotic said she would not rule out action against other internet providers. However, she was not interested in targeting individual downloaders.

The companies are seeking a ruling that iiNet infringed copyright by failing to stop users from engaging in illegal file sharing through BitTorrent sites. They want an order forcing iiNet to prevent its customers from engaging in copyright infringement over its network. "I would expect, yes, we would go on to claim damages," Ms Pecotic said.

Mr White said it was up to law enforcement and the courts to decide whether people were guilty of illegal downloading.

"If these people have done something wrong then the authorities can act on it but really it's inappropriate for us to act on an allegation," he said.

The action follows months of wrangling between the movie and music industries and ISPs over the lengths to which internet providers need to go to prevent illegal file sharing on their networks. The industry wants ISPs to agree to cut off services to those who repeatedly infringe copyright.

Internet providers have argued that courts already provide adequate remedies for copyright holders and they should not be forced to police their users.