Hello John,
It appears that "REGISTRAR LOCK" has interesting per-registrar implementation variations which do not always put the domain holder's interests first. While the registry does not, per se, have a direct business interest with the domain holder, it should be possible to have a lock state which is more oriented to the critical needs of some business domain holders.
For a reasonable fee (and copious amount of documentation), it should be possible for any record holder to instruct the registry to lock the ownership of a domain down in such a way so as to require a similar amount of paperwork to release; thus effectively creating an "OWNER LOCK" state.
These services are actually already available in the competitive registrar market. It is a matter of choosing a registrar that has the right business model and services to suit the registrant. Many corporates already take advantage of such services. Regards, Bruce