I believe what most people fail to consider is the people that work in the PTO are most likely wage slaves. I do not know the inner working of the patent office but if it works like any other government agency then this is a higly likely scenario.
Low totem pole guy recomends it not be approved send up to middle manager, middle manager not wanting to make waves changes to approved (Last guy got reprimanded for disallowing to many patents and retired without promotion)upper management barely skims it and bang approved.
The company's getting sued need to sue the patent office itself and name the signatures that signed this patent in the law suit (individuals bueracrats in agency become responsible vs large govt agency). Could also be fun class projects for law schools across the nation, Find stupid patent, Sue on potential clients behalf, injuction etc against the PTO. Most likely only way any changes will be made. Govt Agency's can take huge hits until individuals (Higher the better) start getting named and paychecks/promotion get hit.