Like you I think there should be a way to deal with this situation. Trouble is that it gets more and more complicated the deeper down the rabbit hole you go when it comes to ownership and usage rights.
I had a UK Peplink partner call me recently who had bought a device online (ebay) from the US and needed to track down the owner to get it released from IC2.
I trust this partner - known them for a long time, upstanding member of the Peplink community, Honest as the day is long. He showed me his proof of purchase from an official well known recycling / refurbishment company.
I rolled up my sleeves and found the distributor who sold it to the partner, found the partner who sold it to the customer, got the end customer contact details who then when called advised that it had been stolen from one of their sites.
Turns out it was actually lost by the logistics company and somehow it ended up getting recycled / refurbished.
So who owns it now? The end customer said they did. If the logistics company paid out on their insurance they could claim ownership. Maybe their lost and found sold it to the refurbishment company, then there is the UK partner who bought it legitimately too.
I think Peplink are so ‘brick wall’ like about IC2 registration in this way so they don’t get stuck in the middle of mess like this…