Yes, it seemed to work great for SCO. They finally went bankrupt after dragging some pretty big players through the legal process. They only fed the monkeys (lawyers).
You cannot litigate a profit.
Righthaven is trying to mitigate the risk by mostly suing people who have little reason or recourse to fight them. People who have enough money to pay a $5000-$10000 settlement, but not big enough to have full-time lawyers with nothing better to do than fight them.
They count on any lawsuit costing a LOT more than the $5-$10, and for their victims to be more interested in keeping their money than fighting for principle.
Better to pay $5000 and be done, than pay $50,000 in legal fees and possibly lose; or even win, since you can pay off 10 times for the same cost.