Supreme Court Issues Notice In Ideal Jawa Liquidator's Plea Against Classic Legends Over Yezdi Trademark
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice in a plea by the liquidator of Ideal Jawa (India) Ltd. challenging a Karnataka High Court ruling that allowed Classic Legends Pvt. Ltd. and its founder Boman R. Irani to use the 'Yezdi' trademark after holding that the company no longer retained rights over it.
The high court had found that the trademark had lapsed and that goodwill could not survive once the underlying business had ceased operations.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, while issuing notice, kept the matter for further hearing on July 15.
Before the high court, the core dispute was whether the YEZDI trademark, a motorcycle brand in India that was originally owned and used by Ideal Jawa, continued to subsist as an asset of the company in liquidation or had lapsed and could be validly claimed afresh.
The Karnataka High Court Division Bench on November 27, 2025, set aside the Single Judge's order dated December 12, 2022, and held that the trademark was not an asset of the company in liquidation and had lapsed.
It had observed that “The goodwill in the trade mark is directly proportional to the strength of the business of an entity and that goodwill cannot exist in vacuum for several years especially after all the assets are sold. The goodwill cannot survive independent of the trade/business and extinguishes when the business attached to it ceases to function”.
The dispute traces back to winding-up proceedings initiated in the early 1990s against Ideal Jawa (India) Ltd., which ceased operations in 1996. The Karnataka High Court ordered liquidation on August 17, 2001, and the company's assets were sold between 2003-2006 for about Rs. 26.7 crore, without including the “YEZDI” trademark.
Subsequently, Boman Irani claimed rights over the mark, secured fresh trademark registrations and licensed them to Classic Legends, which revived the brand commercially.
This was challenged by the Official Liquidator and employees' association. While a Single Judge on December 16, 2022 held the trademark to be an asset of the company, the Division Bench reversed this finding leading to the present proceedings before the apex court.