Ownership disputes often stem from non-technical issues. Two orgs with different agendas might feel they require ownership of a given piece of tech to drive their own agenda forward. This can be expected to happen in firms that have multiple product lines but perhaps some shared functionality across them, as just one example.

I sense that we have different experiences and so can't relate to each other's points without getting more specific so I will make this my last reply.

I will just say that a common trope I've seen in online discourse on this subject is basically that you aren't a real <verySeniorIC> unless you are effectively doing the job of (or heavily carrying) your peers in the org chart who explicitly hold management roles. I broke my own back, metaphorically, trying to live up to that ideal with nothing to show for it and at the expense of the output that was expected of me and so I reject that notion. The <verySeniorIC>s Ive seen who hold those titles with longevity aggressively delegate politics to management and focus on the tech.