Patent ID: 7856477

Claim:
A method for managing outbound message usage, comprising: determining a count of each recipient for each outbound message associated with a client; if the count of each recipient is at least equal to a limit over at least one period of time, providing a visual challenge to the client; and if the provided visual challenge is unresolved, disabling the client's outbound message usage until the visual challenge is resolved, wherein the client's outbound message usage includes a message composed by the client before the providing of the visual challenge to the client, and wherein disabling the client's outbound message usage occurs prior to sending the composed message for the client over a network from a messaging system employed to originate each outbound message associated with the client, and wherein disabling the client's outbound message usage further includes disabling an operable ability of the client to initially send any composed message to the messaging system for sending to any recipient.