Indian scientist secures patent for in-vivo power generator after Bombay High Court order against IIT

The Indian Patent Office has formally approved a patent for scientist Dr. Tarkeshwar Chandrakant Patil, securing his exclusive ownership over an invention capable of generating electrical power inside the human body.

This outcome follows a September 8 order of the Bombay High Court in Patil’s decade-long dispute with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. The dispute involved an apparatus and a method for in-vivo power generation, a technology designed to keep medical implants active inside the human body.

Patil’s patented device functions by converting glucose found in cerebrospinal fluid into a hydrogen-rich fuel, such as ethanol or methanol, using bioenzymes.

This fuel powers a nano-scale biofuel cell implanted in the body, creating a self-sustaining power source that mitigates the need for repeated surgeries to replace traditional lithium-ion button batteries.

IIT Bombay initially filed the patent application in August 2013. However, after internal disputes, the institute executed a worldwide assignment deed in 2017 transferring all intellectual property rights to Patil. 

Despite the transfer, IIT-B contested his rights in India, leading to a prolonged delay in him getting the patent.

The High Court recently criticised it as a systematic frustration of a premier scientist.

Thus, in its order of September 8, the High Court declared Dr. Patil as the original inventor of the patent and directed a Deputy Controller of Patents and Designs to recognize him as the applicant in a patent application filed by IIT Bombay (IITB) in 2013.

On October 30, the Assistant Controller of Patents & Designs Aditya Venkateswara NC executed the Court's mandate by substituting Patil as the sole applicant and inventor and set aside the July 2025 rejection.

The Controller also dismissed pending technical objections regarding the invention's inventive step.