Methods, systems, and emails to link emails to matters and organizations

• US 7,774,408 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2002
• Issued: 08/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CPA Global LLC
• Original Assignee: FoundationIP LLC (Clarivate Plc)
• Inventors: Sinha, Pradeep, Lundberg, Steven W., Brennan, Thomas F., Jain, Shal
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Philip C
• Assistant Examiner(s): FORD, GRANT M
• Application Number:
  US10/128,141
• Publication Number:
  US 20020178229A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,031 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/219, 709/228, 709/229, 707/1, 707/7, 707/101, 707/530, 705/8, 705/1, 370/352, 345/738, 726/26
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Methods, systems, and electronic mail messages (emails) are provided for automatically linking emails to matters or organizations. An email is received or constructed and linked to matters or organizations. The matters and the organizations are associated with matter areas and organization areas. Each of the areas includes matter data, organization data, personnel data, assignment data, and contact data. In one embodiment, the email is also interfaced to a billing system, a document management system, and a docketing system.

Claims

1. A method to process an electronic mail message (email), comprising:

receiving the email, within and as part of an electronic mail service, which is an email system having an email client and an email server, wherein the email is associated with at least one of a matter and an organization, and wherein the email is processed and handled within the electronic mail service; and

linking the email to at least one of the matter and the organization, wherein the matter and the organization include at least one of personnel data, organization data, assignment data, document data, task data, and discussion data, wherein the email is linked via metadata of the email, which is recognized by the electronic mail service, and wherein the metadata includes at least one of a matter identification and an organization identification, which permit the linking of the email to the matter or the organization, and the metadata also includes a subject of the email, and the metadata is modifiable by the email client or email server to include or change the matter identification or the organization identification.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein in receiving, the matter is an intellectual property matter.

3. The method claim 1 wherein in linking, the email is filed to at least one of a matter area and an organization area.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising indexing the email for subsequent search and retrieval.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising assigning the email to one or more categories.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising restricting access to the email based on a security level associated with the email.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising adding comment data to the email.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising integrating the email with a calendar system when the email is associated with an appointment.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising integrating the email with a docketing system using the task data.

10. A method to construct a template electronic mail message (email), comprising:

generating, within an electronic mail service represented by an email client and an email server, the template email within a matter context after receiving a request, wherein the matter context is related to a classification associated with the matter context, and wherein the classification is part of metadata associated with the template email and is included with a subject identification that is subsequently associated with the template email, and the classification is modifiable within the metadata; and

automatically providing a matter list of email addresses associated with the matter context, within the electronic mail service, wherein the matter list of email addresses represent potential receivers of the template email, and wherein the potential receivers are acquired in response to the classification and have been previously assigned to that classification.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

automatically providing an entry field for receiving a billing time and a billing description associated with the template email; and

integrating the billing time and the billing description with a billing system when the template email is sent.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

sending the template email to one or more internal addresses; and

concurrently sending a notification email to one or more external addresses indicating that the template email was sent to one or more of the internal addresses.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising permitting attachment data associated with the matter context to be selectively linked and sent with the template email.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

automatically providing an entry field for receiving a docketing entry; and

integrating the docketing entry with a docketing system when the template email is sent.

15. A method of presenting electronic mail messages (emails), comprising:

receiving, by an email service having an email client and an email server, metadata for one or more emails in a table, wherein the metadata includes subject data, matter data, sender data, attachment indication data, and date received data, and wherein the matter data is associated with one or more classifications to which the one or more emails are assigned, and wherein the metadata is carried with the one or more emails and includes subjects for the one or more emails and the metadata is modifiable;

configuring, within the electronic mail service, the one or more emails in an order within the table based on at least one of a posting type, a filter type, and a view type; and

presenting, within the electronic mail service, the metadata for each of the one or more emails within the table in the configured order.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein in receiving, the matter data includes a matter identification and a matter title.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein in configuring, the posting type includes at least one of a general matters category, a specific matters message category, a status category, a billing category, an engagement category, a correspondent category, and a post-all messages category.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein in configuring, the filter type includes at least one of a flagged messages category, a new messages category, a sent messages category, and a received messages category.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein in configuring, the view type includes at least one of a dismissed messages category and a non-dismissed messages category.

20. The method of claim 15 further comprising providing an input selection for each of the one or more emails presented within the table, wherein the input selection when activated is used to retain or remove a number of the one or more emails from the table.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein in receiving, the attachment indication data is an integer number depicting a total number of attachments associated with each of the one or more emails within the table.

22. An electronic mail (email) system, comprising:

matter areas associated with classifications assigned to email, wherein the matter areas are represented in metadata associated with the email and that metadata also includes a subject for the email, and wherein the metadata is modifiable by an email service that includes an email client and an email server;

organization areas; and

wherein the email is linked to at least one of the matter areas and the organization areas, and wherein the email is processed within the electronic mail service and the links recognized and integrated within the electronic mail service.

23. The email system of claim 22, wherein the matter areas are intellectual property matter areas.

24. The email system of claim 22, wherein the areas are associated with matter data including a matter identification and a matter title, personnel data including assignment data and personnel contact data, and organization data including organization instruction data and organization contact data.

25. The email system of claim 22, wherein the email is interfaced to at least one of a billing system and a docketing system.

26. An electronic email message (email) residing on a computer readable medium, comprising:

a matter identification;

a matter title;

an organization identification; and

wherein the email is linked to at least one of a matter area and an organization area using at least one of the matter identification and the organization identification, and wherein the email is processed by an email service, and wherein the links are also handled by the email service, and the matter identification, the matter title, and the organization identification are included within metadata carried with the email and that metadata also includes a subject associated with the email, and the metadata is modifiable by the email service.

27. The email of claim 26 further comprising a billing time and a billing description to automatically update a billing system using the matter identification.

28. The email of claim 26 further comprising a docketing date and a docketing description to automatically update a docketing system using the matter identification.

29. The email of claim 26 further comprising an index data representing the email to automatically update a document management system using at least one of the matter identification and the organization identification.

30. The email of claim 26, wherein the matter identification is a legal matter identification.

31. The email of claim 29, wherein the legal matter identification is an intellectual property legal matter identification.