Collage and Copyright

Navigate the murky waters of collage art and copyright with me and learn how to use others' work legally in the process.

If your are just doing collages for fun in the privacy of your home, there is no need to worry! The Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team won't be kicking down your door, anytime soon... But if you post your collage art online or sell it... The SWAT team won't be making an appearance either, but you might face some unsavory legal issues, nevertheless.

Let's find out how to keep your hobby or business running safely under the guise of the law. And remember the following information only applies to collages... If you run a drug cartel on the weekends as a hobby, I wouldn't worry about copyright infringement!

What is considered a collage?

From the French "coller" (to paste), the collage technique is based on creating a work from already existing images and materials and, although in its beginnings it was limited to the field of painting, today we can talk about collage in fields such as literature, music videos, cinema, illustration and even memes... But do we really need to count them in? They are everywhere already! I know, sociologists might find them to be "interesting" internet phenomena but are they so different from Little Johnny jokes told ad nauseum... Okey, I might be the boring one here...!

The artistic use of collage did not arise until the 10th century in Japan, when calligraphers began to apply glued paper, using texts on surfaces, when writing their poems. "if you think about it, those Japanese collage poems are like the memes of the Middle Ages" - The average sociology student.

Creatively, it is an exciting technique, with inexhaustible expressive and creative possibilities. But when we look at it from a copyright point of view, things get a little complicated. To create a new work through collage, we use images and pre-existing material that, in many cases, may be protected by copyright.

According to the Graphic Artists Guild the use of materials from pre-existing works to create a new work is called "transformation" and can give rise to other types of works, composite works or derivative works which may fall under "Fair Use".

Do we need permission from the author?

If the transformation or use of an image does not fall within the limits allowed by legislation in your country (right of parody, right of quotation... for example) and you don't have prior authorization from the author of that image, you won't be able to sell or exploit your collage... Most likely...! I don't know what the copyright law is like in Burundi (Africa). Suffice it to say: Don't steal from Burundi artists!

But if you can't reach out to the Burundi artists you want to steal from for your collage, the images used must be part of the public domain or be under Creative Commons licenses that allows their transformation and commercialization. There are also image banks free of copyright.

What if we don't even know who the authors of the images are (this could be the case of photographs that we find in flea markets, for example)? They may be orphan works, that is, works whose authors are not identified or despite being identified, we have not been able to locate them after conducting a diligent search for them. Always keep in mind that these authors can appear at any time and request compensation for the use of their works.

I hope Burundi artists don't find out my current location break into my house and request compensation... Okey, I'm sure that falls under "breaking and entering"... Does my house have copyright...? I think, I'm getting confused with all this legal jargon... Let's quote the Graphic Artists Guild, directly:

"The copyright statute sets forth four factors for courts to consider in determining whether a particular unauthorized use qualifies as fair use:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether you’ve made a new transformative work, and whether your use is commercial.

2. The nature of the original work, such as whether it is more factual than fictional.

3. How much of the original work was used.

4. Whether the new use affects the potential market for the original work."

What about the people appearing in the images?

We must refer not only to the authorship rights over the photographer or owner of the image, but also the models appearing in the images... You might need their permission too... Or you can just, lie...! Say, you made it with AI... Although, AI companies are being investigated and sued left and right too, so...

As you can see, the best way to use third-party material and ensure that we do so legally is to always ask for permission, unless we are dealing with a work that has entered the public domain or is under the corresponding Creative Commons licenses.

Hopefully you've learnt your lesson: The Burundi artists you stole from to make your cute collage will eventually find you... Maybe not today or tomorrow, but you can rest assured, they will be compensated...

And if this weird intimidation game isn't compelling enough for you to abide by the law, Domestika can teach you much more about collages and copyright (and maybe you'll find a more compelling argument... But I doubt it!):

- Join our courses on Collage
- Digital collage in Photoshop
- Where to Find Images When Creating a Digital Collage? An article by Angel Jiménez de Luis