A company called Sable Networks filed a patent lawsuit against Cloudflare a little over a month ago. It is the exact worst company for a patent troll to mess with.

• Sable Networks hasn’t done much meaningful business in the last decade: But it owns at least 10 patents and has been suing tech companies. Its lawsuit against Cloudflare references four patents Cloudflare has supposedly violated. 

• So Cloudflare restarted an operation known as Operation Jengo to fight back: It’s dangling $100,000 worth in cash prizes for people who turn in “prior art” that show the patents of Cloudflare are invalid in an attempt to remove most of Sable’s patent trolling power. 

Cloudflare has played this game before 

In 2017, it got sued by Blackbird Technologies, easily winning the court case and presenting prior art examples for all of its patents. Blackbird Technologies went into a tailspin and is no longer as prolific at filing patent lawsuits.

The Verdict

Cloudflare noted patent trolls appear to be on the rise after a relative decline in recent years. You can join the fight with Cloudflare if you think you can produce any prior art. And certainly do not bet against them.