IMO, Google would probably buy any offending patents.
Or use some of the oodles of dirt they have in their databases.
Hate to interrupt your wet-dream, but to buy "the offending patents", Google would also have to buy out some major corporations which actually own the IP/patents for H.264, such as those in the movie industry and hardware manufacturers.
Oh, and about using dirt they have in their databases? Google claims to be NOT EVIL, and even though it is heading in that direction, I'm sure it is not going to commit a Federal offence to enforce its technology on the web.
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H.264 is the basis for every DVD/BlueRay player on the market, because these discs are encoded using H.264. Apple & Microsoft licence H.264 and build-it into the OS, not just Quicktime or WMPlayer.
H.264 also offers true HD, as in 1920x1080, but will also scale down to 320x240 video and offer the same high quality. VP8 doesn't yet offer true HD for DVD/BR players, only for internet playback.
AMD, ARM, and Nvidia collaborating with Google will mean nothing if the DVD/BR and the entire film industry don't play ball.
Everyone arguing about H.264-vs-VP8 is biased one way or the other. This is verified by the fact that only Apple is being singled-out (Apple's involvement with MPEG-LA is far smaller than that of Microsoft) by almost every blogger and his/her Uncle.
Sit back and enjoy what you can now. If VP8 finally makes it in the market, it will be just one very infinitesimal bit of the whole internet -- just one cog in the whole complicated machine.