NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The trade group for the major movie studios is considering following the legal path of the record companies by suing people for illegally downloading copyrighted materials, according to a published report.

Such suits were discussed at a closed meeting of the chiefs of the studios that make up the Motion Picture Association of America, according to the trade publication Variety. Soon-to-retire MPAA chief Jack Valenti called the meeting, but would not confirm its details to Variety. He did, however, issue a statement to the paper affirming the studios' right to sue.

"We have long said that we will rule out no options to protect the motion picture industry from the very real and devastating effects of piracy," said his statement.

The Recording Industry Association of America started filing suits in September against individuals it charged were illegally downloading music. It started with 261 suits at that time and has since filed a total of 1,595 U.S. suits and another 247 international lawsuits in Italy, Germany, Denmark and Canada.

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Variety said there was some reluctance to go after fans expressed at the MPAA meeting. It said that Disney, which has been facing severe criticism of management by its shareholders, was the only studio vehemently opposed to the legal crackdown, the paper reported.

Variety said that the industry estimates that piracy -- in the form of dubbed videos or DVDs -- costs the industry $3.5 billion a year worldwide. But downloading of movies is a relatively small part of that, according to the paper. Still, it quotes Valenti as estimating that 400,000 to 600,000 copies of films are traded online every day.