I think you missed part of the point. I understand that people are frustrated with Sprint/HTC/whoever, but people that are trying to use this to get free service/headphones/other items is absolutely absurd.
Now if you want to really break this down and point the blame on someone we can blame ourselves for all of this. How you ask?
The USPTO is the agency that granted the patent to Apple (#5,946,647)
United States Patent: 5946647. "A patent application must include one or more claims defining the invention which must meet the relevant patentability requirements such as novelty and non-obviousness. The exclusive right granted to a patentee in most countries is the right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or distributing the patented invention without permission".
Still with me? Ok so the problem is that USPTO issues patents that so broad, but the technology is usually industry standard. But they continue to issue these patents for technology/ideas that have a clear precedent in the industry just shows you how ineffective the system is.
But instead of exerting energy and complaining about the USPTO and how ineffective it is as an agency, people want to bash everyone else. Oh well...