Techdirt being sued by supposed email founder

Techdirt founder Mike Masnick is being sued for $15 million in a libel lawsuit over articles that doubted a man’s claim that he invented email.

Eriq Gardner of The Hollywood Reporter writes, “For Techdirt, Masnick writes a wonky tech policy blog that has earned a loyal following for taking strong stances on issues like copyright, net neutrality, security issues and other topics. His name provokes eye-rolling among many studio lawyers thanks to his frequently hostile attitude toward aggressive intellectual property actions. He was one of the noisiest antagonists toward the Stop Online Piracy Act a few years ago. He’s also credited with coining the term, ‘The Streisand Effect,’ to describe the phenomenon of how attempts to censor information often lead to more awareness of the very information someone is trying to hide. The phrase came after entertainer Barbara Streisand aimed more than a decade ago to suppress photographic images of her Malibu, Calif., residence.

“Masnick has been on the receiving end of many cease-and-desist demands through the years — he isn’t shy about writing about them — but mostly has escaped lawsuits. Until now.

“Ayyadurai first takes issue with an article posted Sept. 2, 2014, headlined, ‘Why is Huffington Post Running a Multi-Part Series to Promote the Lies of a Guy Who Pretended to Invent Email?’

“The article in question accused Ayyadurai of perpetuating a ‘fake story’ of what he supposedly invented at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 1978.”

Read more here.