Fleadh 2011 website taken

The Fleadh Executive Committee (FEC), responsible for organising the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in Cavan next year, was dismayed this week to discover that its desired web address - www.fleadh2011.ie - was already registered to someone else. Following the announcement on September 11 that Cavan was to host the All-Ireland traditional music festival for a second consecutive year, the web address was snapped up on September 14. It is registered to Thomas Maloney with an address at Poles, Cavan town. Mr. Maloney also bought the rights to www.fleadh2011.com on August 24 last. Martin Gaffney, head of PR and marketing for Fleadh 2010, told The Anglo-Celt yesterday (Tuesday) that the committee is keen to have the domain address transferred for its use in marketing and promoting Fleadh 2011. He points out that the web address for this year's fleadh was www.fleadh2010.ie and there is already a huge awareness around this site. "When we went to register the domain name fleadh2011 last week, we discovered it was already taken. It's clearly unusual. Who else would want it?" he asked. Mr. Gaffney confirmed that although the new FEC will need to meet to agree on how to advance the issue, it is his opinion that every avenue should be exhausted to get the fleadh2011.ie domain name. "We would prefer if we could have it. Logically, people will change one digit if looking for information on Fleadh 2011 and from a marketing and information point of view, it makes sense," he said. Mr. Gaffney said it would be "a waste" of what the FEC had already achieved and created if they couldn't secure the domain name. Efforts to contact Thomas Maloney yesterday (Tuesday) as to his plans for the domain name were unsuccessful. Some companies register domain names with the intention of selling them on and this is generally referred to as 'cybersquatting'. However, a spokesperson for Ireland's Domain Registry confirmed that .ie web addresses can not be sold. He said that domain names can be transferred but not sold, though the spokesman admitted that it's possible that, privately, money could change hands. However, he emphasised that if such a transaction came to the attention of Ireland's Domain Registry that it would reserve the right to delete the domain name, even if the transfer had already taken place. Typically it costs around €30 or €40 to register a domain name for a year. There have been some well publicised cases of cyber squatting in recent years. In 2005, just before the new pope selected his papacy name, a Florida man, Rogers Cadenhead of Florida, registered BenedictXVI.com in addition to several other possibilities. Rogers claimed that he did not buy the name to profit, but to block other cybersquatters who would have done so. And in 2007, a US cybersquatter lost the right to operate thesimpsonsmovie.com after a ruling by the United Nations' patent agency. In Cavan, however, it remains to be seen what Thomas Maloney plans for www.fleadh2011.ie or if the FEC will go with another website address perhaps with Cavan in the title.