Shiva Ayyadurai, an Indian-American scientist and inventor of electronic mail system, filed a $35million defamation case against Gawker Media LLC at a US court on Tuesday.
Ayyadurai's lawyer Charles Harder said the case was filed at U.S. District Court in Boston against the company, its writer Sam Biddle, its editor John Cook, and its founder/CEO Nick Denton for allegedly publishing 'defamatory' articles against Ayyadurai in 2012.
Harder said the articles, which falsely trace the origin of email, contain several false and defamatory statements about Ayyadurai, including calling him a 'fraud,' a 'liar' and a 'fake.' "These demonstrably false statements have caused long term harm to Dr. Ayyadurai’s personal and professional reputation and career. Dr. Ayyadurai seeks a prominent retraction, apology, and damages,” he said in a press release.
Read: The life and struggles of Shiva Ayyadurai
Ayyadurai, who currently serves as Chairman and CEO of CytoSolve, Inc, invented email in 1978. Harder said, in 1982, the United States Copyright Office granted Ayyadurai the first U.S. Copyright for “email,” in which his authorship included that he “created and wrote entire text of the computer program.”
Hardar also pointed out that the TIME and Wired magazines have published articles crediting the invention of email to Ayyadurai.
