A legal action aimed at blocking access by Irish internet users to the free file-sharing website The Pirate Bay is due to be heard in the Commercial Court today.

Music giants, including EMI and Sony, have brought a case against internet service providers UPC, Imagine, Vodafone, Digiweb, Hutchinson 3G and Telefonica over concerns about copyright infringement.

The court heard on a previous occasion that every month about 200,000 Irish users access The Pirate Bay which provides torrents and links that facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing.