These all come directly from DA's policies which were signed upon agreement when you became a deviant(aka a user of Deviantart incorporated).
SUBMISSION POLICY:
What does deviantART consider to be a proper desktop screenshot?
The various screenshots categories which we provide here at deviantART are intended primarily for the submission of desktop screenshots. Unaltered, unedited screenshots of video games in-progress are allowed to be placed into your Scrapbook only.
Valid desktop screenshots are those which display your current wallpaper, your desktop icons, your taskbar, and preferably one or more open programs. Screenshots which have been cleared in a manner which leaves only the wallpaper will be considered invalid submissions to these categories and may in fact violate the deviantART copyright policy.
All users should be aware that the submission of plain or “cleared off” third party wallpapers, altered or edited video game screenshots, and still frames from television programs or motion pictures will be considered violations of our copyright policy. Likewise screenshots consisting solely of official video game artwork, artwork ‘found’ on other websites and any other material created by another artist will also be removed from this section as violations of our copyright policy if they do not possess the characteristics of a valid desktop screenshot as described above.
http://about.deviantart.com/policy/copyright/
What are violations of the deviantART copyright policy?
Copyright Infringement
Current deviantART policy considers copyright infringement to be any situation where a user takes the original art, photography, or writing of another person (a 'third party') and then either misrepresents the original, unaltered work as one of their own creations or includes the work (either altered or unaltered) in a new image or piece of literature without the proper permission of the copyright owner.
Generally speaking any submission which is directly built upon the existing work of another artist, photographer, or writer could potentially be considered to be a case of copyright infringement. These works may feature screenshots, official artwork or sprites taken from a video game, scans from an art book, artwork found on a website somewhere on the internet or a photograph of a famous person (just to name a few examples), but in every case the basic image, graphic or writing used is the legal property of another artist. In many cases these works are manipulated, colored over, blended with other images, and otherwise digitally worked over but none of this can guarantee that the use won't be considered to be copyright infringement.
Only valid, legal, stock resources, public domain imagery and Creative Commons licensed materials are allowed to be used as part of your deviantART submission and any work which makes use of copyrighted materials could be removed by the deviantART staff without notice.
Fair Use and Your Submission
"Fair Use" is the notion that some public and private uses of copyrighted works should not require the permission of a copyright owner.
These circumstances are very limited, complex to analyze under the law, require the help of expert advice from a lawyer and are ultimately only determined by judgment in a court of law.
Since the subject of "Fair Use" is widely misunderstood, misinterpreted and misused as a defense deviantART reserves the right to reject any submission which makes use of content by claiming the "Fair Use" exemption.
Can I use things created by other people in my submissions?
You are allowed to use any valid stock resources providing that you obey the terms and conditions set by the stock provider.
For works which are not valid stock resources you must first obtain a license or other proper permission for use. Information on permissions and providing them is detailed elsewhere in the FAQ
You may also use materials governed by a Creative Commons license providing that you obey the terms of the licensing.
Failure to obey all of the required Terms and Conditions or License requirements attached to the stock may result in the removal of your submission
Please be aware that not all websites are considered legitimate stock imagery resources. Only the legal owner of the imagery has the ability to offer the work as a stock resource- if the 'stock' website includes images taken from print or film, or includes photographs featuring celebrities or supermodels then you may rest assured that it is not a valid resources site. Likewise "Render" websites are not valid stock sources as they offer copyrighted materials which have been cut apart and which are offered by people without the legal right to do so.
Also be aware that the lack of obvious copyright information does not imply that the imagery is free for use. Always assume that everything you see is copyright protected by default.
What sort of permission do I need to use someone else's work?
If the work you wish to use is not stock then what you need to do is contact the proper copyright owner of the material which you wish to use. Once contacted the owner of the material needs to provide you with a written statement which needs to clearly say that you have permission to use the work and that you have permission to sublicense your derivative work to deviantART as required by deviantART's Submission Agreement. The owner should state that they understand the nature of both deviantART and the nature of the Submission Agreement.
For your convenience we have provided a sample permissions document (http://www.deviantart.com/model/?sprf=yes)
Other types of permissions statements may also be accepted.
Be certain to remember to adhere to any other conditions they may have given you when you submit to your gallery. For example; if they specified that you link to their website in the deviation's description then be certain to link to their website or your permission will be considered invalid and may be subjected to immediate removal. Also be certain to mention somewhere in your Deviation description that the necessary permissions have been included for review.
Please be aware that the proper copyright owner is not necessarily the webmaster of the site where you find the material. Webmasters are not considered to have the legal ability to grant you the necessary permissions to use the third party works which may be found on the websites they maintain.
AND:
Do you remove copies and trace-over art?
The fact that artists will reuse or reference ideas, scenes, poses, etc which may be found in the works of other artists is considered to be both an inescapable part of the art world and a completely valid learning tool for beginning artists.
Referenced, copied or inspired works should be created completely through your own efforts and must not directly contain any portions of the referenced work revealing it to be a manipulation or edit of the original.
A referenced, copied or inspired work which shows evidence of being directly traced, re-colored, 'painted-over', vector traced or which reproduces the original in exacting detail will be at increased risk of being removed by staff.
If you believe that a deviation or scrapbook addition is an "edit", manipulation, direct trace over, or is a fairly precise copy of your work then you should report it as a potential violation.
Reported works will be judged on a case-by-case basis by the appropriate administrative staff based on a direct comparison with the original or referenced work; be aware that will not act in situations where the similarities are vague, insubstantial or which can be assumed coincidental or unavoidable.
The following criteria is utilized in the review process;
Reproduction of Existing Works by Any Method
Situations listed under the heading of Not Tolerated will override the situations listed under Usually Tolerated
Not Tolerated
• The reproduction exactly duplicates an original work and the owner of the original work files a complaint.
• Reproduction is misrepresented as being something other than a copy of an existing work.
• The reproduction targets a stock resource and violates one or more of the Terms and Conditions for use of that stock.
• The reproduction actually contains elements of the original (i.e. photo showing through paintover).
Sometimes Tolerated
• The reproduction contains new elements which show a departure from the original. • The reproduction obviously copies an existing work but possesses noticeable and substantial differences.
• The reproduction obviously copies an existing work but is noticeably deficient in quality.
• The reproduction and the original bare only vague or broad resemblances to each other (i.e. poses, etc).
• The reproduction has been posted into a Fan Art Gallery.
• The reproduction has been posted into the Scrapbook area.
• The reproduction targets an element of pop culture (i.e. Anime screenshots or official video game content).
• The reproduction properly credits the original.
It is important to note that the only two areas where copied works are deemed acceptable are the Scrapbook and the various Fan Art galleries. The deviantART staff reserves the right to relocate any copied works which are found residing elsewhere without prior notice.
UNDER THE ETIQUETTE PAGE:
Respect Your Fellow Artists
As a vibrant and growing art community deviantART welcomes all kinds of original artworks; but we MUST insist that the artwork which you submit be your own original works.
Your deviations must be your own original creations and you may only use resources which are considered legitimate and legal. Submissions which make use of works without proper permission or licensing by the original author will be removed as they come to the attention of the staff. This policy applies to all Deviation submissions, Scrapbook entries, and the preview images used for written submissions.
If you have reason to believe that a deviantART submission violates this policy you should use the official Report Violation link which is available on every submission page.
AVATARS:
Avatars
This section applies only to avatars which you personally use for your account; avatars submitted into a deviantART Gallery or to your Scrapbook must still conform to all official policies without exception but are not subjected to the restrictions below.
Avatars used to represent your account on site are granted more leniency than standard site submissions. You may freely use material and resources with only the restrictions outlined as follows;
Your avatar should not contain nudity of any sort.
You may not use avatars specifically created by other users without their explicit permission.
If your avatar contains a portion of a work made by another artist it will be removed by staff at the request of the original artist.
In all other respects your avatar must conform to the guidelines set above in regards to hate propaganda.
IN THE TERMS OF SERVICE:
4. Copyright
deviantART is, unless otherwise stated, the owner of all copyright and data rights in the Service and its contents. Individuals who have posted works to deviantART are either the copyright owners of the component parts of that work or are posting the work under license from a copyright owner or his or her agent or otherwise as permitted by law. You may not reproduce, distribute, publicly display or perform, or prepare derivative works based on any of the Content including any such works without the express, written consent of deviantART or the appropriate owner of copyright in such works. deviantART does not claim ownership rights in your works or other materials posted by you to deviantART (Your Content). You agree not to distribute any part of the Service other than Your Content in any medium other than as permitted in these Terms of Service or by use of functions on the Service provided by us. You agree not to alter or modify any part of the Service unless expressly permitted to do so by us or by use of functions on the Service provided by us.
17. Monitoring Content
deviantART has no ability to control the Content you may upload, post or otherwise transmit using the Service and does not have any obligation to monitor such Content for any purpose. You acknowledge that you are solely responsible for all Content and material you upload, post or otherwise transmit using the Service.
19. Conduct
You agree to be subject to and to conduct yourself in accordance with the deviantART Etiquette Policy.You are responsible for all of Your Content you upload, download, and otherwise copy, distribute and display using the Service. You must have the legal right to copy, distribute and display all parts of any content that you upload, download and otherwise copy, distribute and display. Content provided to you by others, or made available through websites, magazines, books and other sources, are protected by copyright and should not be uploaded, downloaded, or otherwise copied, distributed or displayed without the consent of the copyright owner or as otherwise permitted by law. Please refer to deviantART's Copyright Policy for further details.
You agree not to use the Service:
for any unlawful purposes;
to upload, post, or otherwise transmit any material that is obscene, offensive, blasphemous, pornographic, unlawful, threatening, menacing, abusive, harmful, an invasion of privacy or publicity rights, defamatory, libelous, vulgar, illegal or otherwise objectionable;
to upload, post, or otherwise transmit any material that infringes any copyright, trade mark, patent or other intellectual property right or any moral right or artist's right of any third party including, but not limited to, deviantART or to facilitate the unlawful distribution of copyrighted content or illegal content;
to harm minors in any way, including, but not limited to, uploading, posting, or otherwise transmitting content that violates child pornography laws, child sexual exploitation laws or laws prohibiting the depiction of minors engaged in sexual conduct, or submitting any personally identifiable information about any child under the age of 13;
to forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any Content transmitted through the Service;
to upload, post, or otherwise transmit any material which is likely to cause harm to deviantART or anyone else's computer systems, including but not limited to that which contains any virus, code, worm, data or other files or programs designed to damage or allow unauthorized access to the Service which may cause any defect, error, malfunction or corruption to the Service;
for any commercial purpose, except as expressly permitted under these Terms;
to sell access to the Service on any other website or to use the Service on another website for the primary purpose of gaining advertising or subscription revenue other than a personal blog or social network where the primary purpose is to display content from deviantART by hyperlink and not to compete with deviantART.
