The analogy has me thinking about how real mob protection rackets are dealt with (well, at least in the movies). The individual small business owner can't directly fight back, they have ties to the community that they have a real chance of losing, just like a software house that want's to be able to operate in the U.S. can't just up and leave or afford to fight back. The consequence is a legal equivalent of having your shop burned down. The only real power that can fight this kind of collusive power is that of public opinion. Other commenters have already mentioned this, but we cannot dismiss it because Google is an unsympathetic giant, we have to do something because you and I are the ones in real danger.
We don't have pi billion dollars to hire lawyers or bid on patent bundles, but we are the small guys, the rags to riches, the huslters, the american dream. Software patents are a lie invented by old people to stomp out innovation and maintain the status quo. If anyone can make software patents sound bad and get sympathy it's going to be us. We need to find a way to make these issues matter to people, to put it in their minds and tug on their heartstrings.
I don't know how to do it as an activist, but I bet we could do it as story tellers, as bloggers and media producers. We are the generation building the products and services of tomorrow, we know how things should work and what we want things to look like. In my opinion, we need to produce some pop culture. I've watched a lot of crime drama's, what's to stop us from making a biz drama with the same human impact but set in the context of the information age rather than NY city streets.
Even Google can't fight on their field, what chance do we have going head-on against money and greed. Our best hope is to use the most powerful weapon we have, public opinion.