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)

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Actual Creators Of Email Not At All Happy The Fake

READ POSTS EARLY, JOIN THE INSIDER CHAT £ MORE

Creator Of Email Got Paid For His Bogus Claim

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from the as-they-shouM-be dept

As we noted Last week, Shiva Ayyadurai, a guy who didn't invent email but has built his entire
Email
by Mike Mas nick
toon, Nov 7th 2016
2:46 pm

11

Denton to end all of the Charles Harder-related lawsuits against Gawker, Again, Silicon Valley

1

billionaire Peter Thiel, because of a personal grudge against Gawker, set up Lawyer Charles Harder

. V"

on a retainer, basically agreeing to help fund any lawsuit against Gawker that might help destroy
Filed Under:
david crocker,
email, inventor of
email, john vittal,
shiva ayyadurai

|G> X

1

reputation on the false claim that he did, was able to cash in on the settlement agreed to by Nick

the company. Harder filed a few, but the big one was the one filed by HuLk Hogan. Hogan won that

[after losing the first few attempts and then going jurisdiction shopping for a court that would
side with him). Almost everyone with any knowledge of the law agreed it was likely the verdict
would lose on appeal (the appeals court had already ruled earlier on this case in favor of Gawker),

Companies:
gawker

Either way, Denton finally settled the case rather than push on, because of the cost of defending it
and because Thiel had promised to keep funding the case as far as it would go. And, of course, it

Permalink.
Short link.

Personal Injury Lawyers

wasnt just that one case.

We nght insurance companies :o

o

get inju-ed people the
¦compensation they deserve.

The Ayyadurai case was the most ridiculous of all. Ayyadurai did not invent email by any stretch
of the imagination, but likes to go around falsely claiming he did, and smearing those who
actually did the work, Thomas Haigh, a historian who keeps the most canonical explanation of

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Essential Reading

Ayyadurai's misleading claims (including how they continue to morph and change and evolve over
time) has the full story but Gawker, among many others (including us) pointed out that he did not

Hot Topics

invent email. That led Ayyadurai and Charles Harder to sue Gawker -- presumably because (1) the
Gawker/ Ha rder/Thiel thing and (2) because Gawker used inflammatory language. The

5.5

The FCC Suggests Some Wishy Washy,

"settlement" meant that Ayyadurai got $750,000, though we're guessing a decent chunk of that

Highly Unlikely Solutions To The

Likely went to Harder. Ayyadurai, somewhat ridiculous, put out a press release laughably claiming

Poorly-Secured Internet Of Things

that "this settlement is a victory for truth." It's not. It's the opposite, It's a victory for the opposite

5.3 1 If You're Worried About What President

of truth and shows how abusing the legal system can get you paid out -- especially when there's a

Trump Can Do To The Press, Blame

billionaire willing to help fund the questionable lawsuits.

President Obama

Anyway it appears that those who were actually involved in the creation of email are pretty

5.2

Judge Tosses Charges Against
Backpage Execs, Tells Karnala Harris

damn upset by this turn of events and are speaking out. If you go back to the early RFC on the

To Take It Up With Congress

creation of email, Like 524, 561, 6G0 arid 724 and 733, you see that all of the key concepts in
email were being publicly discussed and implemented prior to Ayyadurai writing his email program
in 1976,

New To Techdirt?
Explore some core concepts:

One of the authors of those last two RFCs (724 and 733) is David Crocker, and he's not pleased

Perhaps It's Not The Entertainment

with Ayyadurai trying to rewrite him out of the history of email -- and especially not with

Industry's Business Model That's Outdated

Ayyadurai getting a ton of cash for doing so. For what it's worth, Crocker and Ayyadurai have
tangled before -- when Ayyadurai took some comments from Crocker so out of context to be

Infinity Is Your Friend In Economics

borderline fraudulent (Ayyadurai took two separate sentences, that were separated by pages in a

An Economic Explanation For Why DRM

report Crocker wrote, totally out of context to falsely imply that Crocker said that no one was

Cannot Open Up New Business Model

working on email in 1977), As you can imagine, Crocker is not pleased with the Latest windfall for

Opportunities

Ayyadurai.
read all »
Dove Crocker, who helped write several foundational standards documents about

messaging over the internet, told Gizmodo that Ayyadurai's settlement with Gawker
Media represents a victory for a version of the history of email's development that
isn't supported by evidence. "I grew up being taught that the truth is always a
sufficient defense against cfaims of defamation, " Crocker saia upon bearing ahout
the settlement. "Given the extensive documentation about the history of email, I'm
sony to find that that the adage no longer holds true. "
Gizmodo also spoke to one of his co-authors, John Vittal, who first implemented features Like

"reply" and 'forward," and he also found the whole thing baffling,
John Vittal, one of Crocker's co-authors, seconded his frustration. Vittal is best
tnnwn in fh& trnrii tinnrrl histnnr nf nrrvrif fnr hp3 no fhp first nprcnn tn imn/pmpnt

18

Document title: Actual Creators Of Email Not At All Happy The Fake Creator Of Email Got Paid For His Bogus Claim || Techdirt
Document title: Actual Creators Of Email Not At All Happy The Fake Creator Of Email Got Paid For His Bogus Claim Techdirt
Capture URL: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161104/17341635970/actual-creators-email-not-all-happy-fake-creator-email-got-paid-his-bogus-claim.shtml
Capture URL: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161104/17341635970/actual-creators-email-not-all-happy-fake-creator-email-got-paid-his-bogus-claim.shtml
Capture timestamp (UTC): Mon, 12 Dec 2016 21:48:46 GMT
Capture timestamp (UTC): Mon, 12 Dec 2016 21:48:46 GMT

Page 1 of 9

weaia represents a vjcioiyjora version oj me msnxy oj email s Development mar

fsnt supported by evidence. "I grew up being taught that the truth is always a
sufficient defense against claims of defamation," Crocker said upon heating about

the settlement. "Given the extensive documentation about the history of email, I'm
sorry to find tlwt that the adage no longer holds true. "

&

Gizmodo also spoke to one of his co-authors, John Vittai . who first implemented features like
"reply" and "forward," and he also found the whole thing baffling,

v r m

John Vittai, one of Crocker's co-authors, seconded his frustration. Vittai is best
known in the traditional history of email for being the fiist petson to implement

2

"reply" and "forward" functions. "What's true is true, and you can't hide from it,

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and shouldn't be able to capitalize on thwarting it, " said Vittai. "To me, it's a sad
day "

VPN Unlimited & To Do
Meanwhile, it appears that throughout all of this, Ayyadurai continues to fool people. I had missed

Checklist: Lifetime

this, but earlier this year, he actually got onto CB5 with comedian Mo Rocca on his "Henry Ford's
Innovation Nation" in which Rocca falls hook, line and sinker for the bogus claims by Ayyadurai.

Subscription Bundle

CBS, of course, happens to also be the home of ^Iter O'Brien, whose origin story is quite similar

to Ayyadurai's. Either way, as long as Ayyadurai continues to falsely hold himself out as the
inventor of email, when he is not, people should continue to call out that his claims are simply
false.

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

•

Another Court Says Personal Email Accounts Still Subject To Public Records Requests

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Here's The Truth: Shiva Ayyadurai Didn't Invent Email

•

?

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

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Monday
1 3:09 Two Former Senators Call Qn Qbama To Save The

you see that ail of the key concepts in email were bein^ publicly discussed and implemented prior to
Ayyadurai writing his email program in 1978.

Full CIA Torture Report' From Being Bulled (0)
1 1 :52 The FCC Suggests Some Wishy Washy Highly
Unlikely Solutions "lb The Poorly- Secured Internet

1978? That's way before Al Gore invented the Internet and laid down its first pipes and how are you supposed to

read mail without a browser?
For anybody with an average U.S. education, this should be more than enough evidence to dismiss the claims of

either Ayyadurai or the various RFConmen.
[ reply to this I link to this I view in chronology ]

Off Things (13)
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Document title: Actual Creators Of Email Not At All Happy The Fake Creator Of Email Got Paid For His Bogus Claim || Techdirt
Document title: Actual Creators Of Email Not At All Happy The Fake Creator Of Email Got Paid For His Bogus Claim Techdirt
Capture URL: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161104/17341635970/actual-creators-email-not-all-happy-fake-creator-email-got-paid-his-bogus-claim.shtml
Capture URL: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161104/17341635970/actual-creators-email-not-all-happy-fake-creator-email-got-paid-his-bogus-claim.shtml
Capture timestamp (UTC): Mon, 12 Dec 2016 21:48:46 GMT
Capture timestamp (UTC): Mon, 12 Dec 2016 21:48:46 GMT

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