FC: Weekly column: Mailblocks' dubious anti-spam patents

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Mon May 19 2003 - 12:40:44 PDT

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    http://news.com.com/2010-1032_3-1003921.html
    
       In-boxes that fight back
       By Declan McCullagh
       May 19, 2003, 4:00 AM PT
    
       If you're overwhelmed by spam like the rest of us, there aren't any
       really terrific solutions.
       
       You can try smarter spam filters, though you'll still have to verify
       that legit mail isn't swept up among the dross. You can switch to a
       new e-mail address and pray that nobody except friends and family ever
       learn it. Or wait a few years for micropayments, small cash payments
       required to deliver e-mail that could make it uneconomical for
       spammers to annoy us.
       
       But the spam-blocking technique that's attracted the most attention
       among start-ups recently is a very simple one: Challenge-response (CR)
       technology. When your mailbox is protected by a CR system, anyone who
       tries to contact you will be greeted with a response saying something
       like "click on this link to deliver this message" or "type in the word
       you see in the box above." Well-designed CR utilities won't challenge
       mail from known correspondents or mail that you specifically asked to
       receive.
       
       The problem with CR systems is that one company, Mailblocks of Los
       Altos, Calif., claims to own all rights to the concept and hopes to
       prevent anyone else from selling such a system without paying hefty
       licensing fees.
       
       Mailblocks has purchased two patents, 6,199,102 (filed in 1997) and
       6,112,227 (filed in 1998), and has been aggressive in wielding them
       against competitors. Mailblocks' targets so far include Seattle-based
       SpamArrest and EarthLink (after the Internet provider said it would
       begin offering CR technology to subscribers by the end of May).
       Mailblocks has asked for a preliminary injunction in both suits.
       
       Phil Goldman, Mailblocks' chief executive, is no stranger to the
       rough-and-tumble world of start-up companies. He got rich when he and
       two partners co-founded WebTV and sold the unprofitable venture to
       Microsoft in 1997 for a handy $425 million. (Anyone think he might be
       eyeing the same exit strategy again?)
       
       But Goldman has a problem. He's betting his company on the validity of
       the two patents, both of which are questionable because of other work
       that was published well before the filing dates of the Mailblocks
       patents.
    
       [...remainder snipped...]
    
    
    
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