Award-winning photographer Willy Foo is used to being 'leeched'.

His photographs of sexy models - although he is best known for wedding and event shots - often make their way to picture-sharing websites like sgGirls.

But the 32-year-old is cool about it.

'So long as it is not in some really sleazy site', he will merely ask the model in question if she minds. If she does not, he leaves the matter alone.

If she does, Mr Foo will contact the administrator of the site to remove the picture.

Leeching is what the photography community calls unauthorised online copying of their works.

Usually, the site administrators comply and take down the works they have posted without his permission when asked to do so, said Mr Foo, who runs digital imaging firm, Live! Studios. He was also the chief of photographers during the IMF/World Bank meetings last year.

Mr Foo's days of being leeched began early on in the 1990s, since his earliest forays into digital photography, when he shared his works with digital photography enthusiasts on sites like ClubSnap.

But the photographs ended up on personal sites and even websites of companies, which should have at least asked him, if not paid, for using his works.

Though aware of his legal rights to sue against the unauthorised use of his works, Mr Foo adopts a laissez faire attittude.

He usually requests that the site administrator credits him for the picture.

'It's a good way for a new photographer to get your name out there,' he said.

In fact, he advises new photographers not to 'get too crazy about protecting your work'.

'Once something is online,' he said resignedly, 'it will get copied eventually. Trying to police it would be a full-time job.'

But one recent incident may well force him to guard his IP rights more religiously.

A former employee had allegedly made copies of the pictures taken during his days with Mr Foo, and posted them on the website of his new company, an events firm rivalling Live! Studios.

Besides the photos, said Mr Foo, the former employee had even lifted text 'word for word' from Live! Studio's marketing collateral onto the website.

'When I saw his site, I was thinking, why do these words I'm reading sound so familiar? And then it hit me.'

Mr Foo said he is considering legal action against the former employee, whom he declined to name.

About World IP Day

The annual event has been going on since 2001, in a bid by the the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) to urge people to respect the creative rights of everyone from poets to problem-solvers. The theme for IP Day this year: Encouraging Creativity.

Wipo director general Kamil Idris, wants folks to appreciate the IP behind everything from Bollywood movies to Iranian carpets.
www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/world_ip/2007/