&quot;De minimis&quot; (minimal) changes won&#x27;t create a derivative work. What counts as &quot;de minimis&quot; has been debated extensively, but sales stickers certainly do.<p>Creating derivative work is only illegal if you do it without permission from the copyright owner of the original work.<p>I don&#x27;t know what you mean by &quot;doesn&#x27;t seem very valid&quot;. It is the law [1].<p>Annotations normally create a derivative work. That being said, annotations often end up being covered by fair usage (fair dealing in the UK).<p>[1] 17 U.S. Code § 106 (2) <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.law.cornell.edu&#x2F;uscode&#x2F;text&#x2F;17&#x2F;106" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.law.cornell.edu&#x2F;uscode&#x2F;text&#x2F;17&#x2F;106</a>