Google should have....
Google should have spent some money making sample videos in VP8, and the sat down with the CEOs of the various entities in the MPEG-LA and shown them the samples:
Google: Look, let us show you this sample video, which we think will help you understand this isn't covered under your patents.
MPEG-LA member: HRMPH! You can't.... wait. that's
Google: yes, your mistress. She has good wrist action with that whip, I must say.
MPEG-LA member: That blackmail! wait - that's
Google: Yes, a view of you exiting your car at your executive parking spot. Nevermind the cross-hairs. Say, there's a lot of tall buildings with uninterrupted sight-lines and clear escape routes around there, as this Google Maps view shows.
MPEG-LA member: And thats
Google: Ah, yes, our demonstration of text compression. Your Cayman islands accounts, I believe. And that's your last tax filing, showing where the Caymans should have been listed.
MPEG-LA: I think you are right - there are no patents covering your code.
(ah well, a man can day-dream, can't he?)