The lagilities of actually owning a domain name..

[GUA]

Guys/Girls,

A question I was thinking about today...
I was reading a blog post about the ridiculous number of stolen domain names, and it got me thinking.

There is the whole malarky regarding paypal, and chargebacks : the method with which many domains are essentially stolen.
Paypals' argument is that domain names are intangible blah blah blah.

Now domains are intangible but an ownership change can be confirmed by the whois changing. Yes I could just write someone elses name in the whois, but for the most part it is a useful guide..

My question is what are the lagilities behind owning a domain name. Admittedly I do not understand the legalities of owning a house, or a car for example. What is to stop me moving into an empty house, and saying this is mine? Likewise what is to stop me from saying 'aa.com' is mine, give it back American Airlines...

We want to protect our industry, and thus I feel a little clarification on this matter is in order. The above example was a bit far-fecthed.
A further example.. one of these domains which has been subject to a chargeback... What if the person complaining they had had their domain stolen was actually the thief. They merely say that is what happened such that the domain is transferred back to them.
Again that is a little far-fetched, but hopefully you catch my drift...

What is the legally binding evidence of a domains ownership?
Cheers

[fab]

What is to stop me moving into an empty house, and saying this is mine?

Real estate is registered at some central location.