Whether it is software, music, pictures, graphics, videos - these have all been created by - and as such, belongs to someone.

'Copyright arises automatically' once a work is created, and the creator does not need to file any thing to own it, says Rodyk & Davidson lawyer Gilbert Leong.

This means that even if the content is put it up at a public place like a blog or forums, you need the creator's permission to use it. In some cases, said Mr Leong, the copyright owner may have varying permissions for different types of use.

For instance, a photographer may allow his work to be used free by non-commercial users like bloggers, but require payment for commercial use on corporate websites or brochures.

While the end-products are copyrighted, ideas are fair game for reproduction, noted Mr Leong. So if you really like a particular picture, you can copy its concept - the setting, the pose, the lighting - and shoot it accordingly to get the same effect.

Sue for your rights

If your work has been filched, you have the right to sue the culprit.

Whether you win and get ahead financially though, depends on:

Where the culprit is: If he lives on home shores, it would be easier and cheaper for your lawyer to find and sue him. If he is abroad, expect higher costs.

Laws of the country: Do the laws in the violator's country consider his actions a copyright infringement?

Where the work was posted: If your stolen work is on a third-party site allowing anonymous posting like Flickr or YouTube, it could get a lot messier. This is because you would have to first convince this third party site to release the infringer's details to you.

Would it be worth suing? Mr Leong summed it up this way.

'Unless you are doing it on principle, you should be pragmatic when deciding whether to sue or not. And even if you have resources and want to sue the infringer on principle, in difficult lawsuits you could conceivably run out of money trying to find out who the person who downloaded your prized photograph and put it up on some third-party hosted site is.'

Legal recourse: Sue the thief

While surfing the Internet, an employee of an American building and engineering tools manufacturer discovered a Singapore company pretending to be its sole agent.

The Singapore company had even downloaded the company logo and other graphics from the American firm's website, and used these to create a site of its own where it described itself as the American firm's sole agent here.

Incensed, the manufacturer engage law firm Rodyk & Davidson to put a stop to this.

Since the use of these graphics was a 'clear-cut' copyright infringement, it sued the local firm on these grounds.

Upon receiving a warning letter from the firm, the copycat 'folded' immediately.

Rodyk & Davidson partner Gilbert Leong noted that manylarge firm even hire specialist technology firms that use automated 'crawlers' to trawl the Internet for offending addresses and other signs like 'meta-tags', which are descriptors of what the site is, to sniff out misrepresentations

In the future: copying virtual goods

An online gamer comes up with the recipe for the Ultimate Sword of Dragon-slaying. For a while, he makes a virtual killing selling these to virtual-dragonslayers, and resells the gold he gets from the sales for cold, hard cash.

A competitor manages to copy his recipe, and a price war erupts.

To stop this copycat, the sword's original creator sues the him for copyright infringement.

Could this happen?

As far as Rodyk and Davidson technology and intellectual property lawyer Gilbert Leong is aware, such an incident has not happened - yet - but he believes it is only a matter of time before it does.

The issue of who owns the copyright to a virtual product, he said, has so far not surfaced because traditional online games like EverQuest or World Of Warcraft own the copyright to any and all virtual items created by their users via strict end-user-license-agreements that their players have to agree to before playing.

Legally, this means that the copyright for anything created by the player does not belong to him. So, even if his work is stolen, the creator has no right to sue the copycat.

More recently, though, virtual worlds like Second Life have surfaced, in which players can make furniture or jewellery, sell them for virtual currency, and exchange the loot for real cash.

As these virtual worlds become more popular, such a lawsuit will inevitably follow, said Mr Leong.

The most important question is: can the plaintiff win?

According to Mr Leong, the answer is: Yes.