Internet pirates, it seems, have been slow to cash in on the Harry Potter craze by lifting copies of the 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' movie.

There were rumours that the Harry Potter movie had been videotaped and on the internet within minutes of its release in London last week.

However, according to a US anti-piracy company, MediaForce, which tracks down unauthorised use of films on the web, Harry Potter seems to have avoided mainstream internet distribution.

Blockbusters such as 'American Pie II', 'The Fast and the Furious' and 'Shrek' have all been pirated and are being passed around peer-to-peer exchanges such as LimeWire and Morpheus.

"Most of the links that claim to be full versions of the film turn out to be porn," a MediaForce spokesman said.

While MediaForce is not ruling out that a full length copy of Harry Potter is on the web, a spokesperson for Warner Bros said that the only print they had found was for trailer material rather than a full copy of the movie.

Both groups say they are keeping an eye out for prints of the film appearing on the web.