[gnopgnip]

Is there any precedent where copyright was focused on the input rather than the final published work?

[jj999]

Compilers

[lstodd]

Object code is a derivative work I think.

So no. Compilers do not count.

[kevinmchugh]

The US had to update copyright law to explicitly protect binaries

[freejazz]

That just means some judges got it wrong and congress really wanted to make sure others didn't. I'm not sure what proposition that stands for here, except that sometimes new things are hard to get right at first.

[kevinmchugh]

Remixes, generally?