To answer your question in the way that I look at things (and this is just my personal collection, others opinions may and will vary):
Yes, Leaf was a licensed product, but it was also put out by Donruss. So I only collect what I consider to be each companies flagship set and all of the errors/variations associated with that set. In this example, I collect the "beautiful" red 1990 Donruss cards, but not the fancier 1990 Leaf. Same goes for Fleer and Ultra sets, Topps and Stadium Club, etc. Just a way for me to focus my collection and funds so I'm not trying to grab everything.
Always looking for baseball variation/error cards and anything Garrett Whitley or Ian Anderson