> "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,"
Holy cow, that’s incredible. Cloudflare has single-handedly shut down one of the biggest tech patent trolls. I don’t know how they possibly got Sable to agree to those terms, but kudos to Cloudflare counsel.
My understanding is that it comes from the top, kudos to CF counsel for sure, but also Matthew Prince who has a storied career of fucking with bad actors. Thanks Matthew!
Sable was on the hook for costs after losing. I imagine this settlement was a fraction of what they owed. If there is truly justice in this world, Sable principals will have to go out of pocket for tax liabilities and costs associated with shutting it down.
So it was not justice - just predatory capitalism finding out that there is always a bigger fish. Cloudflare wasn’t doing that from goodness of their heart, they were protecting their own profits.
From the Cloudflare version: "Sable IP is merely a shell entity formed to monetize (make money from) an ancient patent portfolio acquired by Sable Networks from Caspian Networks in 2006. Caspian Networks was a router company that went out of business nearly 20 years ago"
... if the patent portfolio is 20 years old, they must all be right at the end of their lifetime (the one in the lawsuit expired a year ago). Probably not worth it for Sable to keep them.
Sabre was a charming little Santa Clara network company, decades ago.
But some incompetent entrepreneurs and a shabby LA law firm tried to win at a patent trolling. The outcome is hilarious only because I am not paying Cloudflare's lawyers.
Weird that nobody in comments is mentioning that this is also a PR win.
It does a few things:
1. Makes it far less likely they get sued for patents
2. Gives them phenomenal leverage in any other type of lawsuit where they are defending - "if you think we're bluffing that we will take this all the way..."
3. It's a great PR win, winning coverage and widespread respect. I am absolutely certain it was worth the money for this alone
Readit News
Holy cow, that’s incredible. Cloudflare has single-handedly shut down one of the biggest tech patent trolls. I don’t know how they possibly got Sable to agree to those terms, but kudos to Cloudflare counsel.
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/cloudflare-s-matthew-pri...
Dead Comment
If Sable dedicates their patents to the public, what does it mean for CF to be granted a "royalty-free license to its entire patent portfolio"?
Still feels good to see the troll fall
... if the patent portfolio is 20 years old, they must all be right at the end of their lifetime (the one in the lawsuit expired a year ago). Probably not worth it for Sable to keep them.
But some incompetent entrepreneurs and a shabby LA law firm tried to win at a patent trolling. The outcome is hilarious only because I am not paying Cloudflare's lawyers.
Patent troll Sable pays up, dedicates all its patents to the public https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41730415 - Oct 2024 (409 comments)
Others?
Deleted Comment
It does a few things: 1. Makes it far less likely they get sued for patents
2. Gives them phenomenal leverage in any other type of lawsuit where they are defending - "if you think we're bluffing that we will take this all the way..."
3. It's a great PR win, winning coverage and widespread respect. I am absolutely certain it was worth the money for this alone