A distributed arbitration system for arbitrating equipment ownership disputes within a process control system that includes a plurality of process control devices, the distributed arbitration system comprising: a plurality of software objects corresponding to the plurality of process control devices; and one or more processors for executing the software objects, characterized in that: the plurality of software objects includes a first software object corresponding to a first process control device, the first software object defining a pending acquisitions queue and an owned-equipment queue; the plurality of software objects includes a second software object corresponding to a second process control device, the second software object defining a pending requests queue and an owned-by queue; the first software object is adapted to generate an arbitration token, when the first process control device attempts to acquire the second process control device, to store a copy of the arbitration token in the pending acquisitions queue, and to communicate the copy of the arbitration token to the second software object; the second software object is adapted to receive the copy of the arbitration token, to store the copy of the arbitration token in the pending requests queue, and to determine, upon receiving the copy of the arbitration token from the first software object, whether the second process control device is available to be acquired by the first process control device; the second software object is further adapted, upon determining that the second process control device is available to be acquired by the first process control device, to move the copy of the arbitration token from the pending requests queue to the owned-by queue and to send a confirmation message to the first software object. a plurality of software objects corresponding to the plurality of process control devices; and one or more processors for executing the software objects, characterized in that: the plurality of software objects includes a first software object corresponding to a first process control device, the first software object defining a pending acquisitions queue and an owned-equipment queue; the plurality of software objects includes a second software object corresponding to a second process control device, the second software object defining a pending requests queue and an owned-by queue; the first software object is adapted to generate an arbitration token, when the first process control device attempts to acquire the second process control device, to store a copy of the arbitration token in the pending acquisitions queue, and to communicate the copy of the arbitration token to the second software object; the second software object is adapted to receive the copy of the arbitration token, to store the copy of the arbitration token in the pending requests queue, and to determine, upon receiving the copy of the arbitration token from the first software object, whether the second process control device is available to be acquired by the first process control device; the second software object is further adapted, upon determining that the second process control device is available to be acquired by the first process control device, to move the copy of the arbitration token from the pending requests queue to the owned-by queue and to send a confirmation message to the first software object. the plurality of software objects includes a first software object corresponding to a first process control device, the first software object defining a pending acquisitions queue and an owned-equipment queue; the plurality of software objects includes a second software object corresponding to a second process control device, the second software object defining a pending requests queue and an owned-by queue; the first software object is adapted to generate an arbitration token, when the first process control device attempts to acquire the second process control device, to store a copy of the arbitration token in the pending acquisitions queue, and to communicate the copy of the arbitration token to the second software object; the second software object is adapted to receive the copy of the arbitration token, to store the copy of the arbitration token in the pending requests queue, and to determine, upon receiving the copy of the arbitration token from the first software object, whether the second process control device is available to be acquired by the first process control device; the second software object is further adapted, upon determining that the second process control device is available to be acquired by the first process control device, to move the copy of the arbitration token from the pending requests queue to the owned-by queue and to send a confirmation message to the first software object.