Joint Press Statement On Behalf Of Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai And Techdirt, Michael Masnick, And Leigh Beadon

/ -- Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai and Floor64, Inc. aka Techdirt.com, its founder and CEO Michael Masnick, and its Editor Leigh Beadon (collectively, "Techdirt") are pleased to announce that they have reached a settlement of the defamation lawsuit filed by Dr. Ayyadurai against Techdirt in U.S. District Court in Boston, Massachusetts (the "Lawsuit").

The lawsuit concerned statements made in 14 articles published at Techdirt.com between September 2014 and November 2016 that challenged Dr. Ayyadurai's claim that he invented the modern system of email (collectively, the "14 Articles").

On September 6, 2017, largely on First Amendment grounds, the District Court granted Techdirt's motion to dismiss the case; however, Techdirt's motion under California's Anti-SLAPP law to strike Dr. Ayyadurai's complaint and award attorneys' fees was denied. The parties filed cross-appeals with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (the "Appeal").

To resolve this dispute on non-financial terms, without the need for further involvement of the U.S. court system, the parties have now agreed: (1) that Techdirt shall post a hyperlink reading "Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai's Response to this Article and Statement on the Invention of Email," at the top of each of the 14 Articles, which will link to a statement titled "Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai's Statement on the Invention of Email: A Response to the 14 Articles About Him at Techdirt.com (posted Sept. 2014 to Nov. 2016)" (the "Dr. Ayyadurai Statement"), and (2) all parties shall execute mutual releases, jointly dismissing with prejudice the Appeal and the Lawsuit, with each side agreeing to be responsible for his/its own legal fees and costs.

The parties are pleased to have resolved this matter.

Source: Harder LLP, legal counsel for Dr.