Patent ID: 7454468

Claim:
An electronic mail distribution system, comprising: an electronic mail client for transmitting an electronic mail via a mail server, the electronic mail client comprising: means for storing information representing a plurality of mail servers and a priority order of the respective mail servers; selection means for selecting a mail server for transmitting an electronic mail in accordance with the priority order stored in the means for storing; determining means for determining a type of failure that has occurred when the transmission of the electronic mail via the selected mail server fails, and for determining, in accordance with the type of failure determined, whether to select a mail server of next in priority order, to establish a connection again with the mail server that was selected at the time of the failure in the transmission of the electronic mail, or to cancel the transmission; and a bypass permission table which stores data indicating whether or not it is possible for the electronic mail client to bypass the selected mail server and transmit the electronic mail using another mail server, wherein, when the determining means determines in accordance with the type of failure that has occurred that a mail server of next in priority is to be selected and the bypass permission table indicates that bypass is possible, the selection means selects the mail server of next in priority order for transmitting the electronic mail, and when the determining means determines in accordance with the type of failure that has occurred that a mail server of next in priority order is to be selected and the bypass permission table indicates that bypass is not possible, a connection with the mail server ranked first in priority order is established again and the electronic mail is retransmitted via the mail server ranked first in priority order.