Yes, copyright may be claimed in new works of authorship that are created for the derivative work, but only if it is an authorized derivative work. The owner of the copyright in an original work has the exclusive right to make derivative works based on it. A person who makes an unauthorized derivative work in violation of the copyright owner’s exclusive right to make derivative works does not acquire any rights in the illegally created derivative work. This is true even if the derivative work contains a great deal of original, creative expression. Copyrights cannot be acquired through infringement.