If you’ve ever played a card game on your computer, then, according to Sheldon Goldberg, you may have Sheldon Goldberg to thank for it.  Goldberg holds a patent titled "Method and system for playing games on a network," and is now suing companies like AOL, Yahoo, and Google over what he seems to consider his property.

Yes, some men in white coats might be more appropriate than a court of law in this situation.  Or some men in blue suits, just for Goldberg’s abuse of the legal system.  There may not be a direct line, but it’s tempting to say that things like this are the reason serious criminals get to twiddle their thumbs for years before sentencing.

Ah, well.  In any case, the ever-appreciated Patent Troll Tracker describes the series of complaints Goldberg has brought about, and writes, "16 defendants have now been sued in Marshall: Blockdot, CareerBuilder, Cnet Networks, Digg, Ebaum’s World, Jabez Networks, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Weather Channel, and The Washington Post.  Newsweek Interactive Company were sued in June on the same two patents."

Also, "The latest suit named AOL, The Dallas Morning News, Google, IGN Entertainment, Morris Communications, Tribune Interactive, Yahoo!, and YouTube."

Considering the complete inanity of these connections, we’re going to whine about the paper, ink, and keyboard wear and tear that have been wasted on this matter.  No more, though (at least on our end, and for the moment) – with a hat tip to Mike Masnick, we’ll leave this to the lawyers.