I wouldn't be surprised if the troll wasn't someone expecting to get money out of the practice, but rather some person or company sick of the flaws in the patent system, how easy it is to abuse patents, and how hard it is to get the government to take action on fixing it. Maybe someone just wanted to draw attention to the issue to have patent law locked down a little better to prevent such activities. I imagine someone writing all these letters, chanting all the while, "Stop letting me do this!"
And, bonus! if anybody sends them money. Huh?
"More software projects have gone awry for lack of calendar time than for all other causes combined." -- Fred Brooks, Jr., _The Mythical Man Month_