Lodha Brothers Bury The Hatchet Under Parents' Guidance
The Lodha brothers have finally hoisted the white flag on their trademark dispute under the guidance of their parents, as per media releases from their respective teams.
The terms of the resolution are such that the Abhishek Lodha-led Macrotech Developers Ltd will hold the exclusive rights to the surname brand 'Lodha' and 'Lodha Group'. Meanwhile, Abhinandan Lodha will hold the rights to the 'House of Abhinandan Lodha'.
The media release circulated by their respective teams further mentioned that both Macrotech and House of Abhinandan Lodha will continue to be deemed as completely different entities with no connection whatsoever.
On Jan 31, both the brothers 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.
The dispute was brought before the Bombay High Court by Macrotech Developers Ltd., under the leadership of Abhishek Lodha. The company sought restriction of Abhinandan’s House of Abhinandan Lodha from using the 'Lodha' brand name in any form.
In addition to this, Macrotech had also asked for a 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 claimed that HoABL has continued to use the name 'Lodha Ventures', as well as other domain names linked to the brand, prompting the legal action.
Post the Jan 31 hearing, the trademark dispute was undergoing mediation. However, a new chapter in the fight opened when Macrotech made accusations of fraud and forgery on House of Abhinandan Lodha. These allgations were denied by the latter in their own statement.
