Trip Through the Grand Canyon

Trip Through the Grand Canyon is a musical composition created in 1990 by George Stone, then chief MIDI Producer for Passport Designs, that became popular among personal computer users for its inclusion as an example MIDI musical file (Canyon.mid) in several versions of Microsoft Windows.
The file made its first appearance in Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions, in a package deal (part of Media Music) from Passport Designs. "Canyon.mid" is consistently present on all installations of Windows from versions 3.1/NT 3.1 through Windows 2000 (with the exception of Windows Me), the directory <code>C:\windows\media\</code> for Windows 9x (not Me), <code>C:\WINNT\Media</code> for Windows 2000 and NT 4.0, <code>C:\windows\</code> for Windows 3.x, and <code>C:\WINNT\</code> for Windows NT 3.x.
It has also been used as an example MIDI file in several computer publications and websites, for example the Microsoft Knowledge Base. The composition was also used as fanfare in some Windows Entertainment Pack games; for example, Chip's Challenge would play the music on certain levels if the game found the file in the Windows directory.
Background
It was composed in 1990 for Passport Designs (for whom he worked as MIDI producer) to be used in various MIDI applications, but as Passport Designs neared the end of their operation, they reportedly gave the music to Microsoft in a final effort for free publicity. Interestingly, the music file clearly showed the designation Provided by Passport Designs but did not list George Stone as the composer. Microsoft renamed the file Canyon.MID where it was released on Microsoft Windows 3.1 up through and including Windows 2000. Never apprised of the Microsoft acquisition, and being an exclusive Mac computer user, Stone never saw nor heard it until others had told him about it. After confirming that the piece was indeed his composition, Stone was advised by a musician friend to seek legal advice, later consulting the firm of Rosenfeld, Meyer and Susman LLP in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, upon review it was determined that though Stone was the original composer and copyright holder, he had signed a contract that gave Passport exclusive publishing rights to the music. Consequently, Stone never received royalties, compensation, nor credit as the composer. In one last effort, he wrote a letter to Microsoft explaining the situation and requested a meeting to discuss the issue, his reasoning based upon the fact that although Passport was the holder of the publishing rights, he was nevertheless the composer and wanted to have at least his name listed as such. By this time, Passport Designs had all but ceased operation and was acquired by G-Vox, supporting the rationale to credit Stone for his work. No meeting ever transpired after which Stone decided it best to abandon pursuing the issue.

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