But they were being creative. You don't need to create something wholly original to be creative (indeed it's disputed whether you can be wholly original anyway).
One of the biggest problems with copyright law at the moment is that it makes it so difficult to make derivative works like this fan movie. Movies like this should be encouraged, just as many other derivative works should be encouraged. So long as they don't discourage people from creating new works, copyrights should encourage derivation, otherwise they're simply not doing their job (encouraging people to create information-based works for the benefit of the public).
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But they were being creative. You don't need to create something wholly original to be creative (indeed it's disputed whether you can be wholly original anyway). One of the biggest problems with copyright law at the moment is that it makes it so difficult to make derivative works like this fan movie. Movies like this should be encouraged, just as many other derivative works should be encouraged. So long as they don't discourage people from creating new works, copyrights should encourage derivation, otherwise they're simply not doing their job (encouraging people to create information-based works for the benefit of the public).