BOSTON -- A recording industry that has watched profits vanish into cyberspace is striking back hard at illegal downloaders, launching lawsuits and demanding settlements.

NewsCenter 5's Liz Brunner reported Wednesday that some innocent bystanders may be forced to face the music.

Jim Fitzpatrick considers himself to be somewhat of a square, not someone who'd listen to -- much less download -- the late Easy E's x-rated song "Gimme That Nutt."

"These songs they showed me, just not in my character," Fitzpatrick said.

But the record industry says he illegally downloaded that song and some 700 others. Fitzpatrick was sued for copyright infringement involving six record companies. They say they traced his Internet address to the downloads.

"I don't even know how to download," he said.

The divorced pharmaceutical salesman says he doesn't even own a personal computer. He uses an employer-issued laptop that no one has access to.

"This file is actually slightly larger than a $1.2 million case I'm dealing with now, and this is just a simple downloading case," Firzpatrick's attorney Michael Gaffney said.

Fitzpatrick's lawyer says for a year and a half industry attorneys have unrelentingly pushed for a settlement. Nationally, they've settled over 3,000 cases at an average of $4,500 a case. Fitzpatrick was deposed for eight hours.

"Questions about everyone in my family, their names, what they do for work. I declared my innocence a number of times," he said.

"We have individuals and computer software that looks for specific tracks. We have absolute faith and confidence in how we collect evidence," a spokesperson for the Recording Industry Association of America told NewsCenter 5.

Fitzpatrick no longer has the hard drive that was installed when the downloads were made. His company replaced it two years ago after the system crashed. He's says he can only conclude a hacker was involved. Experts say that could easily happen to anyone.

"There is software out there where a hacker or another person that is on another pc or laptop can in fact go into your computer. In which case, they will be able to download anything, and it will look like it's coming from your computer," Internet expert Angel Berna said.

Worn down financially and emotionally, Fitzpatrick gave in and settled for $6,000.

"It's cheaper to do that and that's what they are banking on. I was thinking, where am I going to come up with this money? I might have to refinance my home," he said.