How does this work, exactly?

How does this work, exactly?

This won't answer all your questions, but LWN covered RPM Fusion in 2007. It is presumably hosted outside the U.S.

I would imagine it's also not a particularly enticing target: it could be shut down, but the patent holders wouldn't be able to get any real money out of it. They probably see more benefit from this small set of users being able to interact with fee-paying services, etc., than trying to wring license fees out of that small set of users.

Red Hat, and now IBM, have far deeper pockets and would make a much more attractive target. Pointing to RPM Fusion in the default list of repos could be seen as contributory infringement. Not a worthwhile risk to take, IMO.