The case against IIT-Kharagpur and its affiliate Technology Incubation and Entrepreneurship Training Society (TIETS) for misappropriation of technology of a US firm in the Northern District Court of California has taken a serious turn.

Recently, the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) described the technology as "valuable and novel" even before IIT-Kharagpur had access to it. What could further complicate matters for IIT-Kharagpur is the fact that the US court has refused to grant it sovereign immunity (given to countries).