> In other news, as an investor, this tells me Cloudflare is technologically ahead of the other older companies who apparently were not sure they could defend against the claims.

This is the wrong takeaway. Litigation is expensive and uncertain, especially in the Western District of Texas. It's a troll friendly district with a troll friendly judge. These other companies paid up because it's a rational choice to do so. Cloudflare chose to fight, but it probably would have been cheaper to settle.