A defunct navigation company called WebMap Technologies is suing 15 different major companies in what might be the most bloated and fatuous IP lawsuit in recent memory. And it just might pay off.

Once upon a time, Google was the company to sue. Now it seems to have passed the mantle to Facebook, which is facing an entertaining array of bizarre and quixotic lawsuits--many of them filed in the last few days, and with little legal merit. (Below, Facebook's new HQ in Palo Alto.)

At the end of February, Microsoft [MSFT] brought suit against GPS company TomTom [TOM2] for several patent infringements pertaining to TomTom's Linux-based GPS navigation software. Now the Linux community is preparing for a fight, afraid that Microsoft will turn its snarling legal team on another member of the open-source community. But is Microsoft really trying to curb the use of the Linux kernel in software, or do they have a legitimate case against the struggling Dutch company?

There's a little computer company in Florida called Psystar making cheap Macintosh clones, that thinks that OS X should be open. But Apple [AAPL] thinks the company may be the puppet of a larger enemy.