The Bombay High Court on Monday recommended the Lodha brothers consider mediation, which is a non-litigious method of solving disputes where parties agree upon a mutually acceptable solution to the dispute.
The single-judge bench of Justice Arif S Doctor mentioned that the dispute is between two brothers, and hence an attempt to resolve it in an amicable manner should be made.
In order to take further steps on the dispute, both the parties are required to inform the court of their decision. The case will now be heard on Tuesday for further consideration.
The Bombay High Court 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 the year 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 Profir on Monday, Abhishek Lodha, managing director and chief executive officer of Macrotech Developers Ltd., 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.
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