Karnataka High Court clears Classic Legends to use ‘Yezdi’ trademark

The Karnataka High Court has permitted Classic Legends Pvt Ltd, co-founded by Boman R Irani of the Rustomjee Group alongside Mahindra & Mahindra, to continue using the ‘Yezdi’ trademark for its motorcycles after a Division Bench set aside a 2022 single-judge order that had barred the company from doing so. The earlier order had stemmed from a petition by the official liquidator of Ideal Jawa (India) Limited, the original owner of the mark, who asserted that the trademark remained an asset of the company in liquidation. The ruling was challenged by Classic Legends, prompting the Division Bench review.

Delivering its judgment on 27 November, Justices DK Singh and Venkatesh Naik T observed that Ideal Jawa had not used the Yezdi trademark for more than 15 years, nor had the company taken any steps to renew its rights after the mark lapsed. They stated that such prolonged non-use, combined with the absence of action to protect or revive trademark rights, meant the company could not indefinitely claim ownership. The Bench therefore allowed Classic Legends to continue commercial use of the brand, overturning the single-judge ruling that had favoured the liquidator, as reported by Bar and Bench.

Yezdi motorcycles were originally sold by Ideal Jawa, with the trademark assigned to the company by its founder, Rustom S Irani, as a nod to his Persian roots. After Irani’s death in 1989 and the financial collapse of Ideal Jawa in the early 1990s, production ceased in 1996 and the company was ordered to be wound up in 2001. During this period, Rustom Irani’s son, Boman R Irani, started operating the website yezdi.com in an effort to revive the marque. As Ideal Jawa’s trademark rights lapsed, he initiated proceedings to register the Yezdi mark in his own name, as reported by Bar and Bench.

In 2015, Irani partnered with Mahindra & Mahindra to establish Classic Legends. Later that year, the official liquidator wrote to trademark authorities claiming that the Yezdi mark belonged exclusively to Ideal Jawa and could not be assigned. The liquidator also approached the High Court seeking permission to sell the trademark. In 2018, after Irani had secured registration of the mark in his own name and granted an exclusive licence to Classic Legends, both the liquidator and the Ideal Jawa Employees Association moved applications asking the court to declare Irani’s registration invalid and restore the expired marks to Ideal Jawa.

In December 2022, the single-judge Bench agreed with these petitions, ruling that the Yezdi mark vested with Ideal Jawa and had remained under the court’s custody since liquidation began. The judge concluded that Irani’s registrations were invalid and ordered the Registrar of Trade Marks to restore Ideal Jawa’s expired registrations. Classic Legends challenged this position, arguing that cancellation, rectification and restoration of trademarks fall strictly under the Trade Marks Act and therefore cannot be ordered by a company court. It further contended that Ideal Jawa’s long non-use of the trademark amounted to abandonment.

The Division Bench accepted these arguments, questioning how the liquidator could claim rights over a mark when no steps had been taken for years to protect or renew it. The judges noted that trademark rights cannot remain dormant indefinitely without active commercial use or attempts to maintain registration. They held that the single-judge order was unsustainable and therefore set it aside in full.

Classic Legends was represented by Senior Counsel SS Naganand, with a legal team comprising Saikrishna Rajagopal, Julien George, Gitanjali Miriam Mathew, Anu Paarcha, Meghana Satish Singh, Sudarshana MJ, Chanda Shashikant, Mythili Girish and N Parvati of Saikrishna & Associates, and Vikram Unni Rajagopal of Rajagopal & Menon Associates. Boman R Irani was represented by Senior Counsel Udaya Holla and advocate P Chinnappa. Senior Counsel Aditya Sondhi, assisted by advocate KS Mahadevan, appeared for the official liquidator of Ideal Jawa. Senior Counsel Dhyan Chinnappa, along with advocates Bhavna Arul and Poorna Chandra B Pattar, represented the Ideal Jawa Employees Association. The Union of India and other respondents were represented by Central Government Counsel MN Kumar.