All ownership comes to an end, either if the thing changes owner, or the thing is thrown away or destroyed. To support these events, two operations are available: disowning a thing and unregistering a thing. Disowning a thing removes the ownership registration, but leaves the thing in the Thing Registry. The thing then re-registers itself, allowing it to be claimed by a new owner. In this way, a transfer of ownership can take place. Unregistering a thing, means the thing is removed from the Thing Registry altogether. It is the graceful thing to do, at the end of the life of a thing.
When the ownership of a thing gets transferred to a new owner, it is vitally important to transfer it in the provisioning server as well. Without this transfer of ownership, the old owner will be able to control the device without the knowledge of the new owner.