[Dixielandjazz] Copyright - "Copywrong"?

[Robert Smith]

Judging by some of the tunes I know, I don't see how anyone manages to establish copyright.
Take a tune like "High Society". This has been variously attributed to (and probably copyrighted by) King Oliver, Clarence Williams, A.J. Piron, Walter Melrose, and Roy Palmer, whereas it was almost certainly written by military band musician Porter Steele.
It is even worse when there are two different tunes bearing the same name, e.g. the barn dance "Ballin' The Jack" and the jazz tune of the same name (also called "Ballin' A Jack").
The barn dance version has been attributed to Chris Smith, or Moore, or Unknown.
The jazz version was attributed to Clark.
I'm glad I won't be paying the legal fees if anyone brought a lawsuit for these tunes, and certainly many others like them.

Cheers

Bob