Reuters: America Online to buy anti-spam firm Mailblocks

AOL will purchase the Mailblocks challenge-response anti-spam system company and roll it out over time to its massive subscriber list. Mailblocks was started by WebTV co-founder Phil Goldman two years ago. He died this past December at the age of 39.

AOL said current Mailblocks users would face a "transition" and may not be able to continue to use the full service without charge.

Mailblocks owns patents on challenge-response e-mail systems and has been suing Earthlink for allegedly violating this intellectual property since spring of 2003. AOL will reportedly continue to pursue these suits.