Cloudflare, sued by its first “patent troll,” hits back hard

Rather than pay a nuisance settlement, Cloudflare is going all-out to fight Blackbird Technologies LLC, a company founded by two former big-firm lawyers that has amassed dozens of patents and filed more than 100 lawsuits.

Ars reported on Blackbird's lawsuit against Netflix in February, in which the company asserted a patent on sending CD-R discs through the postal system. The company also has acquired and sued over patents on physical items like a bicycle pet carrier, a buttock lift support, and a sports bra.

Contacted by Ars, Blackbird founder Wendy Verlander declined to comment on any ongoing litigation but said in an e-mail that she is "quite confident we are not violating any ethics rules in any of our cases."