Are you familiar with the video game "Tardigrades"? It's creator sued CBS in Manhattan federal court for copyright infringement because several episodes of Discovery involve a space encounter with a massive tardigrade. The court, however, did not agree with the allegation of infringement.
“[The author's] space-traveling tardigrade is an unprotectable idea because it is a generalized expression of a scientific fact—namely, the known ability of a tardigrade to survive in space,” the court said. “By permitting [the author] to exclusively own the idea of a space-traveling tardigrade, this Court would improperly withdraw that idea from the public domain and stifle creativity naturally flowing from the scientific fact that tardigrades can survive the vacuum of space.”
So rest assured that you can allow your creativity to naturally flow, and that you can feel free to create tardigrade stories to your heart's content. You're welcome.
