Patent ID: 7379972

Claim:
An Email guarantee method, comprising: receiving from a sender information associated with the sending of an Email to at least one human recipient; receiving a currency amount from or on behalf of the sender or establishing control of a deposit guarantee associated with a currency amount held or maintained on behalf of the sender, said currency amount being associated with the Email, at the same time as or prior to the sending of the email to the recipient; after receipt of the information from the sender, electronically sending or sending in a particular manner the Email to a recipient inbox for the human recipient depending at least in part on whether or not the currency amount has been received from or on behalf of the sender or control has been established of the deposit guarantee associated with the currency amount held or maintained on behalf of the sender, that is associated with the Email; evaluating information generated after receipt of the Email by the recipient inbox consistent with a decision by the human recipient to approve or disapprove the email, said decision having been made subsequent to the receipt of the Email by the recipient inbox; and facilitating or not facilitating the taking of the value of the currency amount or a benefit arising from the currency amount consistent with the evaluating step only at a time subsequent to the receipt of the Email by the recipient inbox.