The Delhi High Court has dismissed an appeal filed by Japan-based Hirotsu Bio Science Inc., upholding the rejection of its patent application for a nematode-based cancer detection method on the ground that it constitutes a non-patentable diagnostic process under Section 3(i) of the Patents Act, 1970.

In a judgment delivered on January 17, 2026, Justice Tejas Karia affirmed the order passed by the Assistant Controller of Patents and Designs, which had refused the grant of a patent for the invention titled "Cancer Detection Method Using Sense of Smell of Nematode".