In Berne convention countries (most of the western world) every work is copyrighted by the creator upon the moment of creation. Federal Law requires you to get permissions from the creators unless you're intending to never show the collages to anyone, never put them on the web, never print them out, never frame them, never publically use them in any way.
Fair use only applies in very limited ways mostly in educational settings and then only for single copies and only when there's no money being made from the infringment.
My suggestion is to create your collages from material on RF discs, where you pay a one time fee for any usage of anything. Otherwise if the work you use has a registered copyright you could be liable for a fine up to $150,000 and the legal fees of the holder of the registration.
As a creater of copyrighted works you can help yourself to those same protections by the simple and inexpensive process of registering your own works.
Go to http://www.editorialphoto.com for complete instructions.
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Emily L. Ferguson
mailto:elf@cape.com
508-563-6822
New England landscapes, wooden boats and races, press photography http://www.vsu.cape.com/~elf
Marilyn,
While not as simple as "everybody does it" as I suggested you should feel more at ease if you are up-to-date on the current thinking.
Must read this stuff:
http://www.funnystrange.com/copyright/
Just to sleep at night, avoid corporate icons and logos like: Barbie and M I C K E Y M O U S eeeeeeeeeeee! :-)
AZ
