[Spambayes] Maybe it's too late...

[Thomas Juntunen]

(I sent this the first time on Thursday, 20 August, so forgive me if it winds up being a repeat)


Recently, there was some discussion of licensing and the legal issues surrounding software. Someone said matters were arranged so some entity, such as Microsoft, could not swoop in and buy everything up.

I thought of that when I got a message from the IETF's Anti-Spam Research Group mailing list about a spam-related patent, so I went to the USPO web site and did some searching. I was most interested in patent 6,161,130. (Sorry about the URL from hell).

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,161,130.WKU.&OS=PN/6,161,130&RS=PN/6,161,130

I am not all that qualified to say, but the description of this patent -- filed in 1998 -- sounds a lot like the Bayesian, or naive Bayesian, technique to me. After you look at the abstract or description, take a look at the Assignee -- a certain enterprise from Redmond, WA.

I am definitely not a lawyer, but this can't be a good thing, so I'm hoping someone more savvy about how SpamBayes and related engines work can tell me there's no real relation here.

Thomas Juntunen