It’s official, the patent system is properly broken. As noted by GigaOM, the US Patent Office had released a statement saying there was nothing wrong with the system, telling the people who thought otherwise to “give it a rest”. As if we needed more evidence than the last couple of years worth of patent infringement suits, here’s a classic for you.

A shell firm in California has filed an infringement suit against Apple, asking for $3 million in damages because Apple packaged a headset with the iPhone. The patent is named “Wireless Mobile Phone Including a Headset” or US Patent 7,373,182. Incredibly general, and a fine example of a patent troll doing what it does best: trying to get money for coming up with an idea that is common sense. I mean, seriously, headsets are packaged with almost every single mobile phone out there. But, the troll, Intelligent Smart Phones Concepts LLC (which – by the way, doesn’t manufacture or produce anything at all) is singling out Apple.

GigaOM speculates that this company is one run by a large, and well know patent troll, Intellectual Ventures owned and run by a former Microsoft employee. Sadly, this company makes a living from suing everyone for everything and sometimes wins.

Now, how about a patent system reform?

Via: GigaOM