How? At best, the big pile of big defendants will manage to get the patent(s) in question invalidated after millions in legal expenses. But as we've seen with Lodsys, they have no shortage of patents in their portfolio.
There's nothing to stop them from taking another patent out of their portfolio and applying the same strategy: shake as much easy settlement money out of the small shops as possible, then swing for the fences.
There's nothing to stop them from taking another patent out of their portfolio and applying the same strategy: shake as much easy settlement money out of the small shops as possible, then swing for the fences.