Who owns your domain name?
Sounds like a silly question doesn’t? No actually it doesn’t.
It’s an easy mistake to make, you’re chatting away with your webdesigner/business partner/internet management company and you say “let’s get that domain name”, “sure”, they say, “its only a few pounds/dollars I’ll do it”.
And then you forget about it, the site goes up or you shelve the idea to be addressed in the future. Time goes by and you make a success of your internet idea or the domains you bought start to become more valuable on their own.
So the time comes that you want to make changes within the company or relations between you and your partner/designer become tense or your internet management company goes bust. Then you realise, YOU DON’T HAVE CONTROL OVER YOUR DOMAIN NAMES. Whoever bought the domains has registered themselves as the owner (and yes, I have seen IT management companies do this as well).
As anyone who has been to court knows it is an awful, costly process and one that is best avoided and if the company you were using goes bust and they all magically bugger off, who are you going to take to court to regain control?. Also there is no need for it.
If you can, always make sure you are the one who is down as the registrar (tell them that you’ll handle all the annoying domain stuff and register it in your name) . If that is not an option you should have an agreement drafted by a professional, a commercial or corporate law specialist.
Don’t let it sneak up on you.