But there isn't always (or even usually) a "mothership" from what we've seen lately. Look at the Prenda Law saga (Ars Technica has some great write-ups). They can't even figure out who officially owns the company, it is almost entirely opaque. I think the problem is that corporate personhood has run completely amok. It is far too easy to invent a new corporate person with little or no visible or even provable connection to any natural person.
It's worth pointing out that corporate personhood in the commercial sense is not the same as corporate personhood in the Citizens United sense. Governments are free to regulate how a 'corporate person' can come into existence and do business. They are just bad at it.
