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Irish squatters sit on Pope Francis name

Thursday, March 14 13:59:34

Irish cyber-squatters wasted no time registering key domain names connected to Pope Francis I as the white smoke had only just billowed from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel when they struck.

The Vatican has already lost one key piece of intellectual property by neglecting to register key domain names surrounding newly elected Pope Francis I on his first day of Papal duties.

Over 600 domains were registered within hours of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's appointment as the Head of the Catholic Church with Popefrancis1.com registered in Cork.

"There is every chance that this to spark a real bidding war for Pope Francis domains. In 2005 the address for Pope was sold for over $5,000. Not bad for a $20 investment! It's a shame that this oversight occurred with such a major appointment. In the past, The Catholic Church has actually been very clued-in about owning their domain names. Last December its paid over $180,000 to own .catholic and even had the Chinese version of the domain name selected as the first top level domain to go live in the world. It's a shame to see, the new Pope's administration falling at the first hurdle of connecting with the Internet Generation," said Sally Tomkotowicz, Customer Acquisition Marketing Manager for Register365 in Dublin.