I’ve seen an insane tendency in myself and other business owners to register domain names “in case I might use them at a later date”. New TLDs are being invented all the time and they can cause a mad rush to register mybusinessname.whatever and ridiculous amounts of money change hands for that domain name you must have. But must you?
Top level domains
If you have definite plans to use a domain name for a project or product in the future, then there is a good reason to register one. If you want to protect your intellectual property across a number of regions, you may even want to think about registering a number of domains with different internet or country-code TLD (top level domain) endings.
Right to register domains
A couple of years ago, my customers commonly had emails or calls from purported registrars (not all of them genuine) in China asking them if they were happy to release their right to e.g. domainname.cn as the authorities required them to approach firms who might have a right to claim them in the future. There have also been some high profile UK dispute cases, as registration in the UK at least, is on a first-come, first-serve basis (unless malicious registration can be proven). Both cause for thought about whether you should register a domain name, or not.
In all cases, think about the business case for the domain.
Don’t spend a fortune registering and renewing domain names unnecessarily.