I find it hard to apply the notion of ownership to any cultural products, 'cause that's what they truly are, products, with both their producers and their audience, both of which have their influence on the outcome but are, of course, at the same time produced by that outcome themselves. (I just turned a really simple thought into something unintelligible, didn't I?;)

But what I mean is that it's all an illusion, now and in the past. Nobody has ever owned folklore, at least not longer than the act itself lasts, and be it in what ever form, nobody owns popular culture still, and to state that is either pure stupidity or misguided acceptance of this illusion of control.

(I could've just said "Hear, hear!" to everything you said, couldn't I?:)