3 days ago
Bombay High Court Orders Fresh Review After Patent Delay
Dr Tarkeshwar Chandrakant Patil invented a device that could help power medical devices inside a person’s body.
The patent application was filed in India in 2013.
It stayed pending for more than 13 years before being rejected in 2025.
Patil argued that he owned the invention because IIT-Bombay had transferred its rights to him.
The Bombay High Court agreed that the transfer made Patil the sole owner.
The court said the Patent Office had not properly examined the application.
It ordered the office to look at the application again.
The office must also put Patil’s name on the application and decide within eight weeks.
The court did not say that Patil must receive the patent.
The Bombay High Court set aside the 2025 rejection of Dr Tarkeshwar Chandrakant Patil’s patent application.
The court held that Patil became the sole owner after IIT-Bombay assigned all rights to him in 2017.
The application, filed in August 2013, concerns power generation for medical devices implanted inside the body.
The court said a 13-year processing delay had consumed much of the invention’s 20-year patent-protection period.
The Patent Office must restore the application, reconsider objections, and issue a reasoned decision within eight weeks.
- Who
- Dr Tarkeshwar Chandrakant Patil, IIT-Bombay, the Bombay High Court, and the Patent Office.
- What
- The court cancelled the patent rejection and ordered fresh consideration of Patil’s application.
- Where
- The proceedings took place before the Bombay High Court in Mumbai, India.
- When
- The application was filed in August 2013; the rejection came in 2025; the court’s order was issued on September 8, 2026, and reported on September 10, 2026.
- Why
- The court found that the Patent Office had not properly considered Patil’s ownership and the application’s merits, while the long delay reduced the remaining patent-protection period.
Patil’s Ownership Claim
Patent Office’s Earlier Decision
Ownership and application review
Patil’s Ownership Claim
Patil argued, and the court held, that the 2017 worldwide assignment made him the sole owner of the invention, including rights in India.
Patent Office’s Earlier Decision
The application had been rejected in 2025, but the article does not provide the Patent Office’s detailed reasoning; the High Court said the application had not been properly examined on its merits.
Effect of the court order
Patil’s Ownership Claim
The court ordered the application to be restored, Patil’s name to be substituted, and objections to be heard again.
Patent Office’s Earlier Decision
The ruling does not guarantee a patent grant; the Patent Office must still decide the application according to law and on its merits.
Key facts
- Invention
- “An Apparatus and a Method for In-Vivo Power Generation”
- Application filed
- August 2013
- Ownership transfer
- IIT-Bombay assigned worldwide rights to Patil on July 3, 2017
- Rejection
- Issued by the Deputy Controller of Patents and Designs in 2025
- Processing delay
- More than 13 years
- General protection period
- 20 years from the filing date
- Deadline for reconsideration
- Eight weeks
Quotes
Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan
Bombay High Court judge hearing Patil’s petition.
“There is no rational basis to contend that such an absolute assignment is valid for USA and countries foreign thereto, but excludes India.”
freepressjournal.in
“The Controller ought to have dealt with the merits on the facts writ large on the face of the record.”
freepressjournal.in
Sources
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