IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

%

Judgment delivered on : 06.10.2022

+

RFA(OS)(COMM) 6/2019

M/S VARUN GEMS

..... Appellant

versus

M/S PRECIOUS JEWELS & ANR

..... Respondents

Advocates who appeared in this case:

For the Appellant

: Mr. Pravin Anand with Mr. Achuthan

Sreekumar & Mr. Rohil Bansal, Advs.

For the Respondents

: None.

CORAM

HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE VIBHU BAKHRU

HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT MAHAJAN

JUDGMENT

AMIT MAHAJAN, J

1.

The appellant, M/s. Varun Gems, has filed the present appeal

being aggrieved by the impugned judgment and decree dated

06.04.2018, whereby the suit filed by the appellant praying for

restraining the respondent from using the name ‘RAKYAN’ and / or

any other mark which is identical or deceptively similar to the

appellant/ plaintiff’s registered trademark ‘RAKYAN'S FINE

JEWELLERY’, was dismissed.

This is a digitally signed Judgement.

NEUTRAL CITATION NO: 2022/DHC/004047

2.

The appellant has been running its business of selling jewellery

under the registered trademark ‘RAKYAN’S FINE JEWELLERY’

from the premises M-31 M-Block Market, Greater Kailash-I, New

Delhi-110048.

3.

Mr. Jitendra Kumar Rakyan is the managing partner of the

appellant and is the paternal uncle of respondent No. 2 (defendant No.

2).

4.

The facts in the present case relevant for deciding the present

appeal are that, in the year 1951, one late Sh. Sital Dass Rakyan

(Defendant No. 2’s grandfather and father of Mr. Jitendra Rakyan)

started a jewellery business in Connaught Place, New Delhi under the

name of M/s. SITAL DASS & SONS. Subsequently, in the year 1961,

Mr. Sital Dass Rakyan formed a partnership firm with four partners

namely, Mr. Surendra K. Rakyan, Mr. Rajendra K. Raykan, Mr.

Virendra K. Rakyan and Mr. Jitendra K. Rakyan as partners.

5.

In the year 1962, Mr. Surendra K. Rakyan (now deceased)

retired from the family business. He shifted to Jaipur, and opened

“RAKYANS JEWELLERS” in partnership with his uncles. While the

other partners remained in Delhi and continued with the same

jewellery business under different names as each of them constituted

different firms over a period of time.

6.

In the year 1978, all the partners of M/s. SITAL DASS &

SONS except Mr. Surendra K. Rakyan formed a new partnership firm

named Virendra Kumar and Co., which and was subsequently re-

This is a digitally signed Judgement.

NEUTRAL CITATION NO: 2022/DHC/004047

constituted as SITAL DASS SONS in the year 1982. This firm was

also dissolved in the year 1991. Thereafter each partner of newly

constituted SITAL DASS SONS started separate businesses under the

same name Sital Dass Jewellers and opened shops at various places

within Delhi.

7.

Mr. Jitendra K. Rakyan, in the year 2000, opened a shop at M-

31 M-Block Market, Greater Kailash-I, New Delhi-110048 and in the

year 2005, got the trademark ‘RAKYAN’S FINE JEWELLERY’

registered in the name of partnership firm ‘Varun Gems’.

8.

In the year 2011, Ravi Rakyan, son of Mr. Rajendra K Rakyan,

opened a shop at M-32, M-Block Market, Greater Kailash-I, New

Delhi-110048 under the name ‘DIAMEZ’. Subsequently, in the year

2012, they changed the name from ‘DIAMEZ’ to ‘NEENA & RAVI

RAKYAN’.

9.

Initially, an interim ex-parte injunction was granted in terms of

the order dated 01.06.2012, whereby the respondents were restrained

from using the name ‘RAKYAN’ or any other mark which is identical

or deceptively similar to the registered trademark ‘RAKYAN’S FINE

JEWELLERY’.

10.

The respondents appealed the said decision to the Division

Bench and thereafter, to the Supreme Court. The said injunction was

vacated by the Hon’ble Apex Court by an order dated August 4, 2014

passed in SLP(C)No.9942 of 2013. The said order reads as under:

This is a digitally signed Judgement.

NEUTRAL CITATION NO: 2022/DHC/004047

11.

The respondents did not participate in the said proceedings and

by an order dated 11.07.2017, proceeded ex-parte. Thereafter, ex-