Patent Docket Heading into the Supreme Court's Long Conference

Google petitions Supreme Court in Google LLC v. VirtaMove challenging 35 U.S.C. § 314(d), which makes Patent Trial and Appeal Board institution decisions "final and nonappealable." Solicitor General opposes certiorari, arguing Federal Circuit properly declined mandamus relief because America Invents Act doesn't compel institution, making statutory challenges unlikely to satisfy mandamus standards. Thirteen patent cert petitions currently docketed at Supreme Court, with most awaiting government responses.