Record industry body the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has developed a logo system to identify copy-protected CDs.

The IFPI said an optional logo would be made available, either in the form of artwork on the CD or sleeve or as a sticker on the case, to inform consumers that a CD incorporates technology to control copying.

The organisation said the introduction of copy control discs was necessary as a response to the sharp increase in piracy, multiple copying and illegal internet distribution of recorded music.

Jay Berman, IFPI chairman and chief executive, said: "Copy-protection is a logical response by the music industry to protect its product from mass copying and digital piracy. The new, optional logo will be of practical help to record companies and retailers in informing consumers that a CD carries some form of copy control."

The record industry has come under fire a number of times in recent months after a variety of artists - including Ozzy Osbourne, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson and Natalie Imbruglia - released CDs that used copy-protection technology.

In many cases the CDs refused to play in PC CD-Rom drives and in some makes of CD player, and in some cases the CDs even damaged computers to the extent that they needed professional repair.

Lucy Cronin, director of the Global Entertainment Retail Association, welcomed the announcement as a "tool to reduce both retailer and consumer confusion with respect to copy-protected CDs".

But she noted that because use of the logo is voluntary, its success will be reliant on content owners providing customers with enough information to know what they can and cannot do with the music they are purchasing.