(plural derivative works)

1. (law) In copyright law, a work that is a variation of an original work sufficiently similar to contain protected elements of the original work, but sufficiently different to qualify for copyright protection independent of the original work.

Under United States copyright law, 17 U.S.C. § 101, a derivative work is defined to include "a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted" as well as a "work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship".