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I'm wondering which one would be grammatically correct. I think both make sense, however, I do think that one is grammatical and the other isn't.

All credit goes to its respective owners.

All credit goes to their respective owners.

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    I agree with @mplungjan that both sentences are nonsense without an indication of what "its" or "theirs" refers to.
    – TrevorD
    Aug 30, 2013 at 13:07
  • "All credit"...
    – Jose
    Aug 30, 2013 at 20:20

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Respective

adjective pertaining individually or severally to each of a number of persons, things, etc.; particular: I will now discuss the respective merits of the candidates.

I believe you need to tell us what is owned

Here is a video I posted. All credit goes to its respective owners

meaning two or more people own it (singular)

Here are two pictures I posted. All credit goes to their respective owners

Meaning each picture was owned or copyrighted by a different person

The expression is normally used as

All Rights Reserved. Exclusively licensed and distributed by Acme inc.. All other trademarks and copyrights are property of their respective owners.

UPDATE My suggestions were doubted by Janus who posted

“He inherited his shyness and temper from his respective parents”
sounds downright bizarre to me, while

“They inherited their shyness and temper from their respective parents”
sounds perfectly fine.

If I nGram "his respective parents" I get

1830: should for the time being be entitled to the actual freehold of the estate so to be charged in possession or in remainder expectant on his respective parents decease

1940: the chief incidence of his jealousy is, of course, partly determined by the biological sex of the child; but it is also in no small measure determined by the state of his emotional relationships with his respective parents.

2008: and each child was interviewed separately with his respective parents

2010: André, with a German-speaking mother and English-speaking father, was spoken to in each language by his respective parents

Here is its:

In principle, each federal ministry prepares regulatory proposals within its respective competence

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    I don’t think the singular use really holds water, logically. When talking about “their respective owners”, the thing that makes them ‘respective’ is that there are multiple things owned: it means ‘the owners of each individual/particular item’, rather than ‘each individual owner’. If there is only one video (item owned), “All credit goes to its owners” is enough; respective does not make sense. That said, I doubt I’d notice this if I weren’t thinking specifically about it—it’s common enough that I’d just read it and understand it as intended.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Aug 30, 2013 at 8:26
  • I disagree. Respective refers to owners, not to what they own. The chefs deserve all credit for this wonderful meal ~ all credit goes to its respective creators - the sous-chef and the pastry chef in particular
    – mplungjan
    Aug 30, 2013 at 8:34
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    That example actually sounds unnatural enough to me that I think I’d react to it even if I weren’t analysing ‘respective’ in my mind already. It really jars. Similarly, “He inherited his shyness and temper from his respective parents” sounds downright bizarre to me, while “They inherited their shyness and temper from their respective parents” sounds perfectly fine.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Aug 30, 2013 at 8:40
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    @JanusBahsJacquet What if one of his parents was notably shy and the other was noted to have a temper? I agree it's not the most natural sentence, but it could be grammatical & correct! ;-)
    – TrevorD
    Aug 30, 2013 at 12:47
  • I disagree when you say "Respective refers to owners, not to what they own". "Respective" links each owner in turn with each item or attribute in turn; i.e. it refers to both owner and item/attribute. In selected of your examples: 2010: The German-speaking mother spoke to André in German; & the English-speaking father spoke to him in English - linking language & parent. 2008: Child A was interviewed with his parents; child B was interviewed with his parents; etc.. 1940: also links each child with that child's parents. Cont'd ...
    – TrevorD
    Aug 30, 2013 at 12:59

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