I am currently in the process of putting together some really unique collages that combine real life photos and vector graphics, each design will be based around either a music group/artist or a film. Obviously i understand that if i were to print (say for example) an image of Elvis there would obviously be copyright issues regarding that image however where do i stand if i do a lot of editing to that image and the final image/print that is to be sold is no longer a true reflection of the original image. Am i right in thinking that as soon as an image has been edited, transformed, twisted, tinted and combined with other images to form a unique collage the image is no longer copyright as it is a totally new and unique image and hence no longer the same as the original???
I am not a lawyer but I believe your case would classify as fair use. There are many questions that you have to consider, however. See (www4).law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000107----000-.html Wikipedia also has a good article (www)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work
I would think that so long as the images in the college were not recognizable to their original copyrighted forms, you would be fine. However, in cases like this it can be hard to decide. Copyright law states that the new work must be original and unlike the copyrighted work from which it was derived.
Nope. That's a derivative work and it's an infringement of copyright unless you have permission. And a collage would be multiple counts of infringement.
I know your not allowed with most stock image sites unless you buy a license to do so for each image.. If you feel like some very boring reading =) Here's the license from Istockphoto and these license terms are pretty much the same for most image sites. http://www.istockphoto.com/license.php