> If you take all the words from Harry Potter and shuffle the words together in a random order, the output will be distinct but the work as a whole is probably

> If you take all the words from Harry Potter and shuffle the words together in a random order, the output will be distinct but the work as a whole is probably still derivative. If you do that for 500 book series, you still haven't generated a new work, you've simply created a legal morass of derivative copyrights. This might be the worst metaphor I've stumbled across in this whole debate. You're surely making an argument here for the opposite team.