The Gawker settlement is old news -- announced some time ago though perhaps the money is only now being paid. Here's the new part of the press release, which doesn’t seem to be reported anywhere yet:
New Lawsuit against TechDirt.com
On January 4, 2017, Dr. Ayyadurai filed a new lawsuit against TechDirt.com for defaming him in 14 different articles published from September 2014 through November 2016. Dr. Ayyadurai seeks a minimum of $15 million in damages in the new lawsuit.
Interesting to see how that works out. TechDirt’s founder, Mike Masnick, has blogged the most in-depth and sustained coverage of the saga: https://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=shiva+ayyadurai.
The news reminds me of TechDirt’s choice to headline its recent article reporting the Gawker settlement “Here’s the Truth, Shiva Ayyadurai Didn’t Invent Email.” https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161103/11502935958/heres-truth-shiva-ayyadurai-didnt-invent-email.shtml One commentator asked “Why don't you just flat out DARE Ayyadurai to sue you? Because you're coming pretty close.” Looks like he rose to the bait.
Another depressing data point suggesting that 2017 is likely to be worse than 2016.
Tom
-----Original Message-----
From: Members [mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Evan Koblentz
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2017 5:31 PM
To: Sigcis <members@sigcis.org>
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Shiva/Gawker, also AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH
I strongly advise putting on a helmet before reading because you will want to bang your heads against the wall extremely hard. I know I do.
From the press release:
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Gawker Media has paid Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai a $750,000 settlement payment and later this month will permanently remove its libelous article about him, which denied Dr. Ayyadurai's invention of email.
Victory over Gawker Media
"This is a historic victory for truth," declared Dr. Ayyadurai.
"Americans have no tolerance for fake news, lies or cyberbullying. A 14-year-old kid working in Newark, New Jersey in 1978 invented email.
This settlement honors that innovation."
There is no reasonable dispute that Dr. Ayyadurai is the inventor of email.
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