Some registrars allow you to get a domain for “life” (99 years). I’m not convinced about that method, especially since I don’t believe that the company will live to still be around in a hundred years.

Personally, I find this to be a difficult thing to answer. Several people will own a copyright related to the domain name, especially if it matches the name of their company (such as, say, if the company’s actual name is ThingsForSale.com). On the other hand, as you say, the names have to be renewed, so they’re not an actual property…

I believe they are your property, to a certain extent. Technically, you’re leasing the domain name, and you need to renew it to be able to keep that lease. Like when you rent/lease a house. That house becomes your property, for the amount of time you rent/lease it. It’s the same with domains. The domain is your property until you stop leasing it (renewing it).

This is especially true when your domain name, is your name.

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In the strictest sense they are not, at this time, property. I don’t doubt for an instant that some domain registrants tend to believe they are, however. I don’t mean real domainers – professionals are surely aware of the legal nuances that affect their business – I just mean your average person with one or a few domains. It’s very easy to think of them as property. But they aren’t. Yet.

In my personal opinion we’re seeing an unmistakable move in this direction. There are many kinds of property interests which required some time to work out legally. But I would add that if domains are recognized as property, it will be at best in an abstract, intellectual sense. It’s fun, but inaccurate, to think of domains as real estate. There’s no finite supply out there. TLDs appear and, conceivably, could disappear. Even the DNS standard could one day be eclipsed. So received wisdom about the guaranteed value in “land” need not apply.