Patent ID: 8374930

Claim:
A system to provide categorization of a time stamp, comprising: a time-stamp authority having a secure clock and executing at least one application for performing the function of providing said time stamp; and a time-stamping system comprising a processor executing at least one application for performing the functions of: receiving a copy of an email from a message originator, said email copy having at least one recipient electronic-delivery address associated therewith that directs transmission of said email to at least one recipient and having a time-stamp system email address associated therewith; wherein said time-stamp system email address has a local-part and has a domain-part that directs transmission of said email copy to said time-stamping system; wherein receipt of said email copy by said time-stamping system comprises a solicitation for said time stamp; and wherein said time-stamp system email address is created by said message originator; extracting said local-part and email-transmission data from said email copy; wherein said email-transmission data comprise at least one of a “TO: Address” of said email copy, a “FROM: Address” of said email copy, said time-stamp system email address of said email copy, said recipient electronic-delivery address, a “CC: Address” of said email copy, a “BCC: Address” of said email copy, a portion of an email header of said email copy, an Internet Protocol (IP) address from which said email copy was sent, or transmission data of said email copy; preparing said email copy for obtaining said time stamp; obtaining said time stamp from said time-stamp authority; and utilizing at least one of said local-part or said email-transmission data to provide said categorization of said time stamp by at least associating said time stamp and said email copy with an account accessible to one of said message originator and one of said at least one recipients.