Collage Art Copyright Law
Famous artists such as Pablo Picasso and Richard Hamilton have practiced collage. When creating your own collage, choose your images and text carefully. Copyright laws are vague for this genre, but still apply.
Copyright Laws
Copyright laws protect creative works from being used without the owner's permission. Verify the images and text you are using in your collage piece before assuming it's free from copyright. Laws have changed over the decades and as stated in Circular 38a of the United States Copyright office, they vary for different countries.
Derivative Work
Creating your collage with parts primarily from an existing image or text is a derivative work. While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, if the original work is still under the copyright, the U.S. Copyright Office advises in Circular 14, that only the artist that owns the copyright can grant you permission to create a derivative piece.
Fair Use
A variety of circumstances exist that would allow fair use of copyrighted work in your collage, and can be found detailed in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Portion of the work used, intended for nonprofit or educational purposes, and parody are a few of the circumstances that may constitute fair use.
Royalty free
There are a variety of stock content organizations that will allow you to use their content, such as stock photos, for free or a small fee. The original creator has willingly made this work accessible to the public for a variety of uses.
When in Doubt Create Your Own
Photographing or typesetting content for your own collage as advised by Joel Sampson, artist and publisher of the website Collage College, assures you that your work is free from copyright infringement.
