Technology is undoubtedly complex. Intellectual property is also complex. Unsurprisingly, property of technology is also complex, and complexity can unfortunately lead to abuse. For decades, several patent trolls have prospered by exploiting our underfunded and highly flawed patent system. The usual results of this plague are wasted time, slowed innovation and extra costs passed down to consumers. Unfortunately, the vast majority of trolling cases encourage trolls to continue and funds further trolling.
In the end, Sable agreed to pay Cloudflare $225,000, grant Cloudflare a royalty-free license to its entire patent portfolio, and to dedicate its patents to the public, ensuring that Sable can never again assert them against another company.
Let’s repeat that first part, just to make sure everyone understands:
Sable, the patent troll that sued Cloudflare back in March 2021 asserting around 100 claims across four patents, in the end wound up paying Cloudflare. While this $225,000 can’t fully compensate us for the time, energy and frustration of having to deal with this litigation for nearly three years, it does help to even the score a bit. And we hope that it sends an important message to patent trolls everywhere to beware before taking on Cloudflare.
It's indeed unfortunate that Cloudflare is not fully compensated for all its efforts, but for its brilliant process (Project Jengo👑, crowned with success) and its remarkable result, I hereby declare Cloudflare, Inc. a KNP Hero of 2024👏. Cloudflare has won even more respect from myself, and I am glad to be about to become one of its customers.
Here's hoping an encyclopedic article will be written on this case.