Directors should be made liable for piracy in the workplace, the trade association for the British music industry said on Monday, as it called on the government for tougher action against intellectual property crimes.

A BPI study into counterfeit CD sales estimated that fakes are costing the industry £165m in lost sales – almost 10 per cent of the legal CD albums market, and more than double its previous estimates of the amount of money being made by counterfeiters.