As I understand the law, you own the original song that you wrote before the collaboration as well as the collaborative effort itself. You can do whatever you want with the original song and your cowriter can't stop you, however, you can't take away their collaboration either unless you can prove that you did not have an agreement with them to cowrite. Now, I may be wrong, here, I'm not a lawyer, but that's the way I understand it. Yes, you can register a copyright on both, they are different songs with the same name...your original and the derivative piece you both wrote. A quick google can show you how many songs might have the same title. Just google "I love you lyric" and see how many songs turn up smile

Yes, protect your babies, but just because you have one baby you love doesn't mean you should stop making new ones either smile

You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. -Johnny Cash

It's only music.
-niteshift

Mike Dunbar Music