A SHOCKED pensioner has received a solicitor’s letter warning him to pay £295 or face court action for infringing the copyright of a pop song he’s never heard of.

Max Morris, 66, says he was 450 miles away from his internet connection when it is claimed that the song Evacuate The Dancefloor by Cascada was made available for sharing over the web.

But he received a letter from the firm ACS: Law alleging that his internet connection had been linked to the illegal sharing of the song online.

The letter said he could pay £295 in settlement or face being taken to court, where “damages and costs are likely to be much greater than the sum our clients are seeking”.

“I was absolutely gobsmacked. I couldn’t believe it,” said Mr Morris.

Mr Morris says he has no interest in pop music and wouldn’t know how to share songs online.

His internet connection is in Aberdeen but he spends most of his time looking after his 94-year-old mother in Highcliffe, Christchurch. He says he was in Dorset at the time of the alleged file-sharing and his internet connection was switched off in his unoccupied home in Aberdeen.

ACS: Law has sent thousands of letters to people it believes are responsible for illegal file-sharing. Its approach has been criticised by music industry body the BPI and by consumer publication Which.

Similar cases have led to the foundation of a website, beingthreatened.yolasite.com, which calls the approach “speculative invoicing”. It urges people not to pay if they are innocent of the infringement, but says they should reply to the letters.

Andrew Crossley, principal of ACS: Law, said he could not comment on individual cases. But he said the letters let the recipients know that their internet connection had been linked to an infringement of copyright.

He “firmly denied” concerns by Which and others that the methods used to trace the holders of internet connections were not reliable.

“We work with several data monitoring experts, all of whom have undergone rigorous testing by independent experts who have then prepared detailed reports that confirm the accuracy and integrity of the data collated,” he said.

Mr Morris was welcome to contact the firm and his case would be considered individually, he said.

Anyone unclear about the letter could go to a solicitor or their Citizens’ Advice Bureau.