Jakub F, 30, who was given a three-year suspended sentence reached his target within day and now has over 400,000 views on YouTube.

Jakub came to the unusual deal with a host of firms he settled with out of court. In return for the video they agreed not to sue him.

Among the firms were Microsoft, Sony Music, 20th Century Fox and HBO. They estimated that Jakub caused financial damage of £148,000, or 5.7 million Czech Crowns.

However, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) acknowledged he would be unable to pay that sum and so struck the deal with the software pirate.

A spokesman for the BSA said that “in theory” the firms would have grounds to pursue damages if Jakub failed to garner the views.

As part of the deal a public relations firm established a website with a message from Jakub that, rather unpleasantly, read: “I thought I was not doing anything wrong. I thought it did not hurt the big companies… I was convinced that I was too small a fish.”