Ayyadurai v. Floor64, Inc. et al

Filing 1

COMPLAINT against All Defendants Filing fee: $ 400, receipt number 0101-6439091 (Fee Status: Filing Fee paid), filed by Shiva Ayyadurai. (Attachments: # 1 Civil Cover Sheet, # 2 Exhibit, # 3 Exhibit, # 4 Exhibit, # 5 Exhibit, # 6 Exhibit, # 7 Exhibit, # 8 Exhibit, # 9 Exhibit, # 10 Exhibit, # 11 Exhibit, # 12 Exhibit, # 13 Exhibit, # 14 Exhibit, # 15 Exhibit, # 16 Exhibit, # 17 Exhibit, # 18 Exhibit, # 19 Exhibit, # 20 Exhibit, # 21 Exhibit)(Cornell, Timothy)

EXHIBIT Q

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Ridiculous: Nick Denton Settles Remaining Charles Harder

READ POSTS EARLY, JOIN THE INSIDER CHAT £ MORE

Lawsuits, Agrees To Delete Perfectly True Stories

: : IFISIDER SHOP

from the that 's flicked up dept

Congrats Peter Thiel: you've successfully censored true stories reported by the press. Just a little
Email
by Mike Mas nick
Wed, Nov 2nd 2016
10:42am

while ago, Nick Denton posted that the remaining three cases filed by lawyer Charles Harder

Si

si

fpsl

against Gawker, Denton and some reporters had been settled, with the agreement to remove

'Mandolin |
Oranges

the stories, Harder, of course, is the lawyer that Peter Thiel set up with his own practice, with the
stated mission of filing lawsuits that would kill Gawker, Thiel/Harder "won" back when this effort

Filed Under:
censorship, Charles
harder,
defamation, email,
hulk hogan,
inventor of email,
nick denton, peter

worse, insist that this proves that the case was legitimate -- despite the fact it never was). But

J

forced Gawker into bankruptcy and then a fire sale to Llnivision, But now the remaining stories

thiel, shiva
ayyadurai
Companies:
gawker

have beer officially killed off. This includes the famous Hulk Hogan story and case -- meaning that
the appeal, which basically every lawyer admits would have resulted in overturning the lower

1?

*1.29

WITH CARD

court's jury verdict, is dead, I know the Gawker haters will cheer this outright censorship (or,

ST
Dole Mandarin Oranges

w

let's focus or ore of the other stories that is getting censored here thanks to Peter Thiel's actions.

It's the one that we wrote about the most: Shiva Ayyaudrai claims to have invented email when

j&tphs)

BifBW
Vaki until Dec. 13

he was a kid. He did not. I wont go through all the details again, but as a kid in 1978, Ayyadurai
Permalirik.
Short link.

a.

•5

did apparently create [independently) a software program for electronic mail for a college he
worked for. By all accounts, it was a good program that was useful. He named it EMAIL and

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Essential Reading

eventually registered a copyright for that piece of software. That's it. It's a neat accomplishment
for a kid. But it is not "inventing email" by any stretch of the imagination.

That's because (1) every single thing that Ayyadurai did had already been done elsewhere, often

Hot Topics

5.5

The FCC Suggests Some Wishy Washy,

many years earlier, and (2) all of that other work was done in public settings via RFCs and the

Highly Unlikely Solutions To The

process that eventually led to the email systems that we use today, Ayyadurai's email system,,,

Poorly-Secured Internet Of Things

contributed to nothing, It was late to the game and it never went any further, Again, it was

5.2 1 Judge Tosses Charges Against

impressive that as a kid he basically independently created an electronic mailing system, but that's

Backpage Execs, Tells Kamala Harris

different from "inventing email," But, for whatever reason, Ayyadurai has staked his entire identity

To Take It Up With Congress

on the outright false claim that he invented email. He's written a book about it. He has a whole
webpage about it. And he keeps pushing the story on the press, including teaming up with a

5.2

Georgia Secretary Of State Accuses
DHS Of Breaching his Office's Firewall

famous PR guy and (???) Noam Chomsky to argue that there was a giant conspiracy to deny him
his rightful designation as the inventor of email, He often claims this is because he's of Indian

descent, ignoring that one of the actual inventors of email, on RFC 561 is Abhay Bhushan (who

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also created FTP) and is, also, of Indian descent,

Explore some core concepts:
An Economic Explanation For Why DRM

Ayyadurai is so obsessed with his false claim of creating email, that he even went or a petulant

Cannot Open Up New Business Model

Twitter rampage after one of the octucr? creators of email, Ray Tomlinson, passed away earlier

Opportunities

this year, yelling at any journalist who accurately credited Tomlinson's work on email.
Saying You Can't Compete With Free Is
Along with us, one of the other publications that highlighted Ayyadurai's bullshit claims was, ,,

Saying You Can't Compete Period

Gawker, And, then, in May Ayyadurai sued Gawker using Charles Harder as his lawyer, over two

Step One To Embracing A Lack Of Scarcity:

Gawker aitides on Ayyadurai , Those articles were completely accurate, Ayyadurai did not invent

Recognize What Market You're Really In

email. He wants the world to believe he did, despite mountains of evidence that says he's wrong.
read all »

Gawker's reporting was entirely accurate. This is not about "sex tapes" or "privacy" or any of the

stuff people want to talk about with the Hulk Hogan story This was exposing someone who was
blatantly misrepresenting history for his own personal aggrandizing,

And now it's gone, because continuing to fight the lawsuit was too much. As Denton notes:
But all-out legal war with Thiel would have cost too much, ctnrf hurt" too many
people, and there wets no end in sight.
Denton notes that, especially given the reporters who were directly sued in these cases, it was best

to just move on to "focus on activities more productive than endless litigation. Life is short, for
most of us."

18
Document title: Ridiculous: Nick Denton Settles Remaining Charles Harder Lawsuits, Agrees To Delete Perfectly True Stories || Techdirt
Document title: Ridiculous: Nick Denton Settles Remaining Charles Harder Lawsuits, Agrees To Delete Perfectly True Stories Techdirt
Capture URL: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161102/10054035947/ridiculous-nick-denton-settles-remaining-charles-harder-lawsuits-agrees-to-delete-perfectly-true-…
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Page 1 of 8

And row it's gone, because continuing to fight the lawsuit was too much. As Denton notes:

But all-out legal war with Thief would have cost too much, and hurt too many
people, and there was no end in sight.

W,

Denton notes that, especially given the reporters who were directly sued in these cases, it was best

03

to just move on to "focus on activities more productive than endless litigation. Life is short, for
most of us."

That's true, but it's also bullshit. Ayyadurai has been given the heckler's veto and will likely crow

about how this vindicates him. He's tried to twist a variety of other things as "proof' that he's the

2
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inventor of email. As of writing this he hasn't said anything on his Twitter feed, other than to
retweet someone saying "congratulations to [Shiva], inventor of email" and someone else tweeting

VPN Unlimited & To Do

about the Denton story, Of course, perhaps because he's too busy promoting some sketchy "health"
system and conspiracy theories about the election -- oh, and also having conversations with

Checklist: Lifetime

confirmed asshole and colleague in bullshit, censorious lawsuits, actor James Woods.

Subscription Bundle
V.A. SHIVA

va_shiva

Oct 29

Since II dqrl trust the Polls

Who will you vote for?
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Clinton

Ifote

http://rn.theregi5ter.co.uk/201 6/12/08/wiriter_is_c<

37,361 votes ¦ 2 days lefl

time forthe touches and pitchforks, I think.
Dark Helmet: Touches and pitchforks is my

V UK

new favorite typo win
Jeffrey Nonken: hah.
Well, mobile interface. That's my excuse.

1

V A. SHIVA a

A*- Follow

gvashrva

Vldiot: WaPo article on copyright fight gets it

wrong, of course... ASCAP and MPAA seen as
the Office's only constituents. How about us
citizens instead?

@RealJamesWoods This poll shows

https J/www.was hin gto n p o st. co rn/n ews/a rts-

@realDonaldTrump winning by 5Qpts!

Either

andentertainment/wp/2016/12/09/congressiorial-

my poll is way off or MSM is absolutely rigging

panel-calls-for-independent-copyright-office

it all

Mike Masnick: well. they do quote new head of
the ALA toe, and he's good

RETAEETS

?

i

UKES

11

25

3.30 PM

Join the Insider Chat

30 Oct 2016

O

11

V 35

So, not only is he not the inventor of email, he's also pretty clueless about how polls work andl
basic statistics too. Seems like a real winner.

0 @ G9 n iii ra

29 Comments | Leave a Comment

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Document title: Ridiculous: Nick Denton Settles Remaining Charles Harder Lawsuits, Agrees To Delete Perfectly True Stories || Techdirt
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