> Do you mean damages could not possibly have been enough to pay back your legal fees

Unfortunately yes. The infringer was not big enough to be worth it. However, that meant the patent was then worthless. If you don't enforce a patent you lose it.

Patents only seem to be worth it for large companies and trolls.

P.S. I have always been fascinated by a contrary story. The guy that invented the intermittent window wiper got a patent and the car companies ignored him for a very long time. He sued over and over with no lawyers and eventually got a huge sum of money. Unfortunately he was quite old by then.