Shiva copyrighted an interoffice messaging program called EMAIL in 1982. There was no mechanism to patent software at that time. It was limited to use for communication with University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark, New Jersey. But not externally.
At the release of his software he writes: "I, per- sonally, feel EMAIL is as sophisticated as any electronic mail system on the market today." and goes on to write "I hope all of EMAIL's users have as much fun using it as I had designing and developing it"
So in short, he wrote and copyrighted a program called EMAIL, but didn't invent electronic mail itself. It had been around for a few years before.
Shiva copyrighted an interoffice messaging program called EMAIL in 1982. There was no mechanism to patent software at that time. It was limited to use for communication with University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark, New Jersey. But not externally.
At the release of his software he writes: "I, per- sonally, feel EMAIL is as sophisticated as any electronic mail system on the market today." and goes on to write "I hope all of EMAIL's users have as much fun using it as I had designing and developing it"
So in short, he wrote and copyrighted a program called EMAIL, but didn't invent electronic mail itself. It had been around for a few years before.
https://www.techdirt.com/2019/05/22/laying-out-all-evidence-shiva-ayyadurai-did-not-invent-email/