[November 21, 2006] Return Path Awarded Email Change of Address (ECOA) Service Patent Tweet NEW YORK --(Business Wire)-- Return Path has received a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its Email Change of Address (ECOA) service. Launched in 2000, Return Path's ECOA provides a fully permission-based way for businesses to find customers' new e-mail addresses and allows consumers to search for friends' and families' new e-mail addresses for free. The patent, number 7,080,122, applies to both the system and process for updating electronic messaging accounts. "We invented the network approach for updating email addresses in 2000 to solve the growing problem of staying in touch via email for both consumers and businesses," says Matt Blumberg, Chairman & CEO of Return Path. "Our product is still unique in the market, offering the only fully consumer-reported ECOA database to help marketers and publishers keep their databases clean, their customers engaged, and their deliverability high." To date, it has been used by more than 400 companies, and more than 31 million consumers have registered with the service. On average, 15,000 people register with Return Path's ECOA service daily. Return Path's ECOA service was invented by George Bilbrey, currently the VP & GM of Return Path's Delivery Assurance division; Andy Sautins, currently Return Path's CTO; Eric Kirby, now the SVP and GM of Merkle's email marketing division Merkle/Quris; Kevin O'Connell and John Kevin Hartley. About Return Path Return Path is an e-mail performance management company dedicated to improving the reach, delivery performance, and overall success of permission-based e-mail programs. Since its founding in 1999, more than 1,500 companies have used Return Path's services to generate superior results from their e-mail programs, taking advantage of Return Path's pioneering innovation in deliverability, ECOA, list hygiene, double opt-in list acquisition, online market research, and best practice strategy. For more information, please visit www.returnpath.net. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]