What if the components are a novel and annotations? Or a textbook and errata? Or a kernel and an extra driver?
I believe the errata in and of it self to be an original work. But when bundled with the textbook, the composition surely must constitute a derived work. Annotations are usually useless without the annotated work. This article does, on the other hand, not forbid reviews, for example.
Drivers bundled with a kernel can similarly be considered as "elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship."
Obviously, IANAL. Additionally, I don't speak English natively, and am in fact quite uncertain as to whether I'm interpreting the last sentence of your quotation of 17 USC 101 correctly.