Patent ID: 7191222

Claim:
A method for providing notification of an e-mail address change and forwarding messages to forwarding e-mail addresses, the method comprising the steps of: registering a plurality of subscribers for an e-mail forwarding service, the step of registering comprising: identifying disfavored e-mail addresses of the subscribers; identifying forwarding e-mail addresses of the subscribers; identifying one or more e-mail address change notification recipients; sending a pre-generated e-mail address change notification to the identified one or more e-mail address change notification recipients; and providing a description of the e-mail forwarding service in the pre-generated e-mail address change notification; associating the disfavored e-mail addresses with the corresponding forwarding e-mail addresses in an e-mail forwarding computer; providing an electronic address for receiving messages at the e-mail forwarding computer, said messages relating to any of the plurality of disfavored e-mail addresses; receiving said messages at the electronic address; identifying, with the e-mail forwarding computer, a disfavored e-mail address in a received message, the disfavored e-mail address being other than the electronic address for the e-mail forwarding computer; determining, with the e-mail forwarding computer, a forwarding e-mail address associated with the disfavored e-mail address; and forwarding at least a portion of the received message from the e-mail forwarding computer to the associated forwarding e-mail address.