[dragonwriter]

> Can the Ninth Circuit itself petition the Supreme Court to intervene and stop the Federal Circuit from making a hash of Ninth Circuit law?

Technically, this doesn't have any effect on 9th Circuit law because CAFC decisions applying (and I use that term loosely, here) a particular Circuit’s law do not form new binding precedent for courts in that circuit (or even precedent binding on the CAFC itself in future cases applying the same law.)

But, no, the Ninth Circuit can't intervene that way, though tension between Ninth Circuit precedent and a decision, even if non-binding on other courts, in the CAFC presents an issue similar to a conflict between circuits that would ordinarily seem to weigh in favor of the Supreme Court taking the case on appeal, since avoiding effectively having different systems of federsl law applied to different cases is one reason the Supreme Court exercised it's discretion to hear appeals. It seems certain that Google will appeal this.