It was extortion, albeit a presently legal form of extortion.
The mass filing of frivolous claims with the hope that some defendants, at least in the initial phase of the trolling, would rather pay nuisance settlements, which amounts are less than the cost of defending to the point of obtaining a dismissal of the claims on the merits of those claims, that is extortion and it is widespread and looked upon unfavorably by the courts, and as we speak, judges and legislators are working to make patent trolling more difficult to undertake.
If there was any merit to the patent portfolio, then at each and every phase of this company's existence, there would have been opportunities for profit and growth. In summary IP with value can a) be sold for value; b) can attract well-capitalized partners to assist in creating value: c) can attract litigation funding to weather the litigation costs and bring the IP deep into litigation to the point of obtaining a judgment against the alleged infringers.
Management failed on all three counts, namely they couldn't sell the vaunted IP, they couldn't find a money partner for the IP, and they couldn't attract a litigation funding partner to get a single case to trial so that the shareholders could have their day in court.
There's one and only one conclusion that can be drawn from the aforesaid. That conclusion quite simply is what each and every one of us knows and has known for some time, namely that there is no substance or value to the vaunted IP.
Even those who believed otherwise for so long must now come to grips with that harsh but unmistakable reality. The e.Digital IP bundle was a bundle of vapor.
