The first person IIRC who took out copyrights on traditional folksongs was John Lomax. To this day I can still remember hearing Michael Cooney playing and singing Fannin Street with twelve-string guitar and sounding anAWFUL lot like Leadbelly and doing a verse which Leadbelly never would have done: If anybody asks you Who composed this song
Tell 'em it was Huddie Ledbetter, he has been here and gone
If anybody asks you Who copyrighted this one
Tell em it was Mr. John A Lomax and his Goddam son