If you have some vague software patent, it’s only natural to sue a bunch of big, deep-pocketed Silicon Valley companies for infringement. Take Bedrock Computer Technologies, for example. Last month, the patent troll went after Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., MySpace, Amazon.com, PayPal, Match.com, AOL and CitiWare Technology Solutions.
CitiWare? Yeah, they’re one of the big infringers here, apparently. Unlike Google, with its $22 billion in gross revenue and 20,000 employees on its sprawling campus, CitiWare is a two-man Web-consulting shop — or was, before it went out of business. So why is it lumped in with Yahoo (13,000 employees, $7 billion revenue), Amazon (20,000 employees, $19 billion revenue) and AOL (8,000 employees, probably still generates some income)? Maybe it’s CitiWare’s address — 819 Pinegrove Lane, Longview, Texas — which happens to be right smack dab in the heart of the plaintiff-friendly Eastern District of Texas.
