The Supreme Court has denied certiorari in Google LLC v. VirtaMove, Corp., the lead case among five petitions asking the justices to review the USPTO's refusal to institute inter partes review. According to Patently-O's Dennis Crouch, the denial came at the first conference after briefing closed, with no hold or relist for companion cases.
Crouch notes that Tesla's reply brief had grouped VirtaMove with its own case, Intel, and Kahoot!, suggesting the Court was aware of the related petitions. The outright denial substantially reduces the chances for the remaining cases, including Kahoot! AS v. Interstellar Inc., which Crouch had described as a cleaner test case.
By Crouch's count, twelve petitions arising from patent disputes are now pending, and five more patent cases have open extension applications. The rest of his update reviews those petitions, the remaining Section 314(d) cases, and recent denials.