Lodha Vs Lodha: Siblings To Move Towards Mediation In Trademark Dispute

The Bombay High Court on Friday observed that the Lodha brothers have agreed to undergo mediation to reconsider their differences on the 'Lodha' surname brand trademark dispute.

The matter was being heard by the single judge bench of Justice Arif Doctor.

"Abhinandan is my younger brother and have lot of love for him. I have always supported him in whatever manner possible and wished for his success. I hope this mediation process helps us reconcile the differences," Abhishek Lodha, managing director of Macrotech Developers, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Abhinandan Lodha, the founder of House of Abhinandan Lodha, mentioned in a media statement that, "he does hope that his family honours all the commitments made to him, as he has delivered not only on all his commitments, but has also gone beyond, whenever called upon to help with advice, time, and money".

The Bombay High Court is hearing a case filed by Macrotech Developers Ltd., under the leadership of Abhishek Lodha, which seeks to restrict Abhinandan’s House of Abhinandan Lodha from using the 'Lodha' brand name in any form.

In addition to this, Macrotech also seeks compensation of Rs 5,000 crore for the damages caused by HoABL in using the same brand name.

From 2015 to 2017, a family agreement was finalised between the Lodha brothers. The responsibilities and businesses were divided among them, and the major terms were that Abhishek Lodha would retain control over the core Lodha Group real estate business, while Abhinandan Lodha was to manage a separate business, as per the high court petition reviewed by NDTV Profit.

However, the issue cropped up again due to allegations of non-compliance with the terms of the 2017 agreement, and a new 2023 agreement came into being as per the filing. The 2023 agreement explicitly prohibited Abhinandan's business from using any variation of the 'Lodha' name.

Despite this, Macrotech Developers claims that HoABL has continued to use the name 'Lodha Ventures', as well as other domain names linked to the brand, prompting the legal action.

While speaking to NDTV Profit on Monday, Abhishek Lodha mentioned that the issue at hand is not a family dispute but a trademark dispute.

“Whether it is my younger brother Abhinandan Lodha or any other third party, no one in the real estate space can use the Lodha name, as it creates confusion for the consumer,” he said.