Ownership of a domain name is defined by the 'domain record' which is stored in your domain extension's Registry. Specifically, the information in the "Registrant" field is considered to be the owner of the domain, though for practical purposes the owner should be listed in the Admin Contact field as well. You can see your domain record by using a whois lookup, such as the one found on http://www.hostmysite.com/whois/

For example here's the output of one of my personal domains:


Now, as you can see, I'm not listed as the actual Registrant, so technically the domain isn't mine. It's the property of LNH, Inc (HostMySite's incorporated name). I am listed as the Admin contact though, which gives me a certain amount of power over the domain, i.e. I can change the nameservers and registration information at will.

So why this lesson in domain ownership? Because in many cases I've seen an end user will goto a webhost or development firm and request a domain registered, then that firm will promptly register the domain name and use their own information as the registrant! This could be major problem if you ever want to change hosts, or if you have a falling out with your developer.

If you find that your domain name has been 'stolen' in this manner, there is really very little you can do save threaten legal action. There is an established set of policies for resolving disputes centered around domain names (http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm) however those have proven to be difficult and time-consuming to enforce.

The moral of the story: don't let anyone register a domain name for you unless you absolutely trust them to use the right registration details!

As a sidenote, HostMySite ALWAYS uses a client's information when registering domains.