[Asrg] US Spam patents: Partial list

["Bob Wyman" <bob@wyman.us>]

Title: Message

    The list below presents a *partial* list of US Patents that are relevant to spam. This list misses many existing, relevant US patents and does not contain any of the many, many published patent applications. Also, there are no international patents in this list.

    My motivation for presenting the list is, in part, to demonstrate that the task of producing an exhaustive listing of spam-related IPR is going to be much more work than it may seem. Frankly, I think we're going to have to rely on the existing IETF procedures for IPR holders filing of IPR disclosures...

    I would also like to suggest that people who seek a comprehensive knowledge of existing anti-spam techniques should study the specifications and claims in these patents as one of many means to discover what methods others have thought would be useful in fighting spam. While patents are usually considered more of a hinderance than a help, they do serve to document (often poorly...) what some consider to be useful methods. Hopefully, someone will find inspiration in one of the patents below, or one not listed here, for some system that isn't already patented yet will help solve the problem.

 

        bob wyman

 

• 6574658 3-Jun-03 System and method for secure classification of electronic mail
• 6560632 6-May-03 System and method for managing files in a distributed system using prioritization
• 6553358 22-Apr-03 Decision-theoretic approach to harnessing text classification for guiding automated action
• 6546416 8-Apr-03 Method and system for selectively blocking delivery of bulk electronic mail
• 6546390 8-Apr-03 Method and apparatus for evaluating relevancy of messages to users
• 6505167 7-Jan-03 Systems and methods for directing automated services for messaging and scheduling
• 6493007 10-Dec-02 Method and device for removing junk e-mail messages
• 6490574 3-Dec-02 Method and system for managing rules and events in a multi-user intelligent agent environment
• 6487586 26-Nov-02 Self-removing email verified or designated as such by a message distributor for the convenience of a recipient
• 6484197 19-Nov-02 Filtering incoming e-mail
• 6480885 12-Nov-02 Dynamically matching users for group communications based on a threshold degree of matching of sender and recipient predetermined acceptance criteria
• 6473758 29-Oct-02 Method and apparatus for private and restricted-use electronic addresses
• 6460050 1-Oct-02 Distributed content identification system
• 6453327 17-Sep-02 Method and apparatus for identifying and discarding junk electronic mail
• 6442589 27-Aug-02 Method and system for sorting and forwarding electronic messages and other data
• 6421709 16-Jul-02 E-mail filter and method thereof
• 6415304 2-Jul-02 Waiting prior to engaging in action for enhancement of automated service
• 6400810 4-Jun-02 Method and system for selective notification of E-mail messages
• 6397205 28-May-02 Document categorization and evaluation via cross-entrophy
• 6393465 21-May-02 Junk electronic mail detector and eliminator
• 6381592 30-Apr-02 Candidate chaser
• 6370526 9-Apr-02 Self-adaptive method and system for providing a user-preferred ranking order of object sets
• 6363140 26-Mar-02 Dialable screening profile
• 6356935 12-Mar-02 Apparatus and method for an authenticated electronic userid
• 6332164 18-Dec-01 System for recipient control of E-mail message by sending complete version of message only with confirmation from recipient to receive message
• 6330590 11-Dec-01 Preventing delivery of unwanted bulk e-mail
• 6324569 27-Nov-01 Self-removing email verified or designated as such by a message distributor for the convenience of a recipient
• 6321267 20-Nov-01 Method and apparatus for filtering junk email
• 6266692 24-Jul-01 Method for blocking all unwanted e-mail (SPAM) using a header-based password
• 6249805 19-Jun-01 Method and system for filtering unauthorized electronic mail messages
• 6230188 8-May-01 System and method for providing a proxy identifier in an on-line directory
• 6199103 6-Mar-01 Electronic mail determination method and system and storage medium
• 6199102 6-Mar-01 Method and system for filtering electronic messages
• 6195698 27-Feb-01 Method for selectively restricting access to computer systems
• 6192114 20-Feb-01 Method and apparatus for billing a fee to a party initiating an electronic mail communication when the party is not on an authorization list associated with the party to whom the communication is directed
• 6185603 6-Feb-01 Method and system for delivery of e-mail and alerting messages
• 6185551 6-Feb-01 Web-based electronic mail service apparatus and method using full text and label indexing
• 6167435 26-Dec-00 Double opt-in.TM. method and system for verifying subscriptions to information distribution services
• 6167434 26-Dec-00 Computer code for removing junk e-mail messages
• 6161130 12-Dec-00 "Technique which utilizes a probabilistic classifier to detect ""junk"" e-mail by automatically updating a training and re-training the classifier based on the updated training set "
• 6112227 29-Aug-00 Filter-in method for reducing junk e-mail
• 6108691 22-Aug-00 Directory with options for access to and display of email addresses
• 6092101 18-Jul-00 Method for filtering mail messages for a plurality of client computers connected to a mail service system
• 6085321 4-Jul-00 Unique digital signature
• 6073167 6-Jun-00 Distribution limiter for network messaging
• 6073165 6-Jun-00 "Filtering computer network messages directed to a user's e-mail box based on user defined filters, and forwarding a filtered message to the user's receiver "
• 6072942 6-Jun-00 System and method of electronic mail filtering using interconnected nodes
• 6064878 16-May-00 Method for separately permissioned communication
• 6052709 18-Apr-00 Apparatus and method for controlling delivery of unsolicited electronic mail
• 6023723 8-Feb-00 Method and system for filtering unwanted junk e-mail utilizing a plurality of filtering mechanisms
• 6018761 25-Jan-00 System for adding to electronic mail messages information obtained from sources external to the electronic mail transport process
• 6003027 14-Dec-99 System and method for determining confidence levels for the results of a categorization system
• 5999967 7-Dec-99 Electronic mail filtering by electronic stamp
• 5999932 7-Dec-99 System and method for filtering unsolicited electronic mail messages using data matching and heuristic processing
• 5930479 27-Jul-99 Communications addressing system
• 5905777 18-May-99 E-mail paging system
• 5835087 10-Nov-98 System for generation of object profiles for a system for customized electronic identification of desirable objects
• 5826022 20-Oct-98 Method and apparatus for receiving electronic mail
• 5796948 18-Aug-98 Offensive message interceptor for computers
• 5757891 26-May-98 Ever ready telephonic answering-machine for receiving and delivering electronic messages
• 5754939 19-May-98 System for generation of user profiles for a system for customized electronic identification of desirable objects
• 5754938 19-May-98 Pseudonymous server for system for customized electronic identification of desirable objects
• 5742769 21-Apr-98 Directory with options for access to and display of email addresses
• 5724567 3-Mar-98 System for directing relevance-ranked data objects to computer users
• 5619648 8-Apr-97 Message filtering techniques
• 5613108 18-Mar-97 Electronic mail processing system and electronic mail processing method
• 5377354 27-Dec-94 Method and system for sorting and prioritizing electronic mail messages
• 5283856 1-Feb-94 Event-driven rule-based messaging system
• 5216603 1-Jun-93 Method and apparatus for structuring and managing human communications by explicitly defining the types of communications permitted between participants
• 5208748 4-May-93 Method and apparatus for structuring and managing human communications by explicitly defining the types of communications permitted between participants