This is no different than any other technology industry. Look at televisions. They are all derivative of each other, but you don't see a web of lawsuits occurring in the TV industry.
The iPhone wasn't "derivative" of anything. Do people even remember mobile phones before 2007? I do. They were NOTHING like the iPhone or any current Android or Windows "smartphone" (and no, Blackberry wasn't even close). If people don't get that, then I can't really help. For those claiming Apple didn't "invent" the "technology" associated with the patent disputes: please tell me you are using a Nokia brick phone circa 2000, because that's what phones would still look like and work like if it weren't for Apple.