There are a few points to address here.
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Originally Posted by Yotsuya
I may be wrong, but I think instances of someone claiming ownership and copyright over something someone else created are very rare. Actually I've never heard of it.
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There have been
a number of examples. There was even
one in the world of VGM.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Yotsuya
The only instances where it becomes an issue are incidental: like when someone hears some music and subconsciously writes it into their song, take Robo's theme from Chrono Trigger, Mitsuda claims he never heard Astley's song before, so it's more of a coincidence.
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Once again, who knows. It's entirely possible that he either had heard it and didn't specifically remember it when he wrote Robo's Theme, and it's also possible (if a little less likely) that he just composed something similar without having heard the song before. After all, the song in question sounds a lot like a whole bunch of other 80s songs.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Yotsuya
I've never heard of two people arguing over who created a finished product. It seems whoever the true owner is would have tons of preliminary documents leading up to it. But I may be wrong.
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In this digital age, probably not. A lot of VGM is conceived on and through computers, and although Mitsuda may have written out Robo's theme on paper (he posted a photo of the first page of the main Chrono Trigger theme manuscript on his blog once), it's likely that no intermediate draft copies ever existed. This is even more true for something that was conceived in the computer as sounds or samples instead of as sheet music, as a good deal of VGM is.
The same goes even more for a pop backing track, as most pop/rock musicians don't work from sheet music, but from lead sheets, only indicating the general harmony and lyrics.