INTELLECTUAL is not a word you’d normally associate with the purveyors of genital enlargement equipment and erectile dysfunction therapies, otherwise known as spammers. But intellectual property lawyers may soon have them on the run.
The granting of a US patent last week to telecoms firm AT&T means spammers can now be sued for patent infringement if they try to defeat the anti-spam filters running on mail servers.
On the face of it, AT&T’s patent – which covers ways to defeat the filters – seems to reveal too much about how spam filters work and how they can be beaten. The firm has been roundly criticised for giving away such information to…
