Lodha brothers Abhishek and Abhinandan resolve disputes over trademark; Abhishek to have exclusive right to ‘Lodha’ brand

In separate statements, MDL and HoABL announced that they resolved the dispute over the “Lodha” trademark under the guidance of their parents. It was also agreed that Abhinandan, the younger brother, is the owner of the brand name House of Abhinandan Lodha and has the exclusive right to use the same. It was further resolved that “Lodha Group” and “House of Abhinandan Lodha” have no connection with each other and both entities will widely communicate the same.

It was agreed that Abhinandan has no rights or claims in Lodha Group or MDL or other businesses of Abhishek and similarly, Abhishek would have no rights or claims in HoABL or Abhinandan’s other businesses.

The high court had made clear that the mediation proceedings shall not exclude any of the parties to the trademark infringement suit and had said that it was “open for respondents to place before the mediator any issues and/or dispute and/or difference subsisting between them which they feel needs resolution.”

Abhishek and Abhinandan, through their respective statements, expressed gratitude to Justice Raveendran (retired) and Justice Doctor who initiated the mediation process.

While the high court had initially sought to conclude the mediation proceedings within six weeks from its January 31 order, the same was extended from time to time till April 15. The court is likely to be informed about the resolution between the parties on Tuesday.

The court has been hearing MDL’s application seeking ad interim relief in its trademark infringement suit to restrain HoABL from using the “Lodha” trademark pending the hearing of the matter.

Origin of the dispute

As per the plea before the high court, Abhinandan parted ways with Lodha Group in 2015 and started HoABL and the separation was formalised on the basis of a family settlement agreement in 2017.

MDL, formerly the Lodha group, had claimed that due to non-compliance with the 2017 agreement, a new agreement was signed between the two parties in December 2023 which, as per MDL, expressly prohibited Abhinandan from using a name similar to Lodha.

MDL and Digirealty Technologies Pvt Ltd, in their suit, sought a perpetual injunction against infringing on their registered trademarks and sought an ad interim injunction pending hearing of the suit. They had claimed that the infringement by HoABL resulted in losses provisionally estimated to be more than Rs 5,000 crore due to HoABL’s use of the ‘Lodha’ trademark.