So as some of you may have noticed, a large number of my deviations have disappeared. All pixel art, and my own work.

Of course, some of my others are just fine and dandy. So I find myself forced to ask: What is the line?

Does dA fully investigate the image versus the claim, or do they just play it lawyer-safe and delete every claim of 'Copyright Violation'? Do they only investigate the outline or the details? And at what point

Where is the line, particularly in small pixel art, between a copy and an original work that unintentionally duplicates part of another image? If I had made "Tenpo Hikari - Adventurous" without ever seeing the sprite of Gold in Pokémon HGSS, would that keep me safe from claims of copyright violation, or do I simply need to avoid actually saying that I based it on that sprite?

I recognize that my images all were admitting that they were derivative works, and that under copyright law, yes, Nintendo has all right to permit derivative works. But here's something else to consider: That makes every single image containing a copyright protected character on deviantArt a violation of copyright, and by this token, a large number of images, digital, traditional, and possibly even some photographic images would need to be taken down, because even a completely original image that uses a copyright protected character (their image can be copyright protected) is a derivative work forbidden under copyright law.

That's right, every drawing of an Eevee or Pikachu or Ash or Misty is a derivative work, and dA should be removing all of them for the same reason they removed my work. And of course, the worst offense of all is my old revamps! Those original exercises in resizing were attempts to capture the essences of the original sprite images, and every pixel in them was drawn and placed painstakingly, and so just because each was based on a smaller image, they were all able to be removed.

If someone ELSE was claiming them to be their own, that's low. But unless I see indications to that effect, I'm going to assume some self-righteous person with a stick up his or her rear-end decided to report me, and when I see it that way, it just really upsets me. It's just a shame that I can't tell who reported me in any way, or more details about why than a vague "Copyright Violation" as the reason. Do I recognize where it was coming from? Yes. But does that make me like it?

Well, as I did put my sweat and labor into these pixel images, how do you think it makes me feel that some idiot can come along and just have my work torn down because he says it violates copyright?

Note: I recognize the specific areas the works were removed based on. In every case, it was a derivative work based on a sprite (or two) from some Pokémon game. But, trust me, this does not make me want to post more artwork here. Of course, the great irony is that I have other images up that should have been reported for the same reason, but remain comfortably in place, thus leading me to believe that a legitimate representative was not the one reporting me. I will not be re-uploading the images, of course, as I have no desire to have my account banned or suspended, but I am not likely to be putting anything up for a while while I lets this steam cool down.