Google wants to be secure by buying up patents and over turn the Nortel patent sale. They are just whining that they don't have a toy too.
Nobody is talking about overthrowing the patent system except for maybe people on HN. Google very seriously wants to be a player in this and have a patent portfolio. Read their blog post's last paragraph.
Everyone I know /patent lawyers included/ has said that the system is broken.
It's a cold war; everyone's got to have nukes, just in case the other guy uses them. Then some upstart like PRNK, ahem I mean /Lodsys/, comes along, lobs one into someone's applecart, and suddenly ICBMs are flying everywhere.
What we have here, gentlemen, is a mind shaft gap.
I think you misunderstood the last paragraph. They want to challenge competition by innovation not by a patent war. Google's patent portfolio is there to protect them against unfair competition.
"Patents were meant to encourage innovation, but lately they are being used as a weapon to stop it."