The Bombay High Court on Monday proposed mediation between the Lodha brothers, Abhishek and Abhinandan, in the ongoing Rs 5,000 crore trademark dispute.
The court said since the matter is between the two brothers, efforts should be made to resolve the dispute mutually through mediums like mediation.
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Abhishek Lodha-led Macrotech Developers recently filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against Abhinandan Lodha’s firm, alleging misuse of the Lodha name to mislead customers. The suit sought Rs 5,000 crore as damages from Abhinandan’s company.
The HC’s single bench, led by Justice Arif Doctor, gave both parties time until Tuesday (January 28) to inform the court regarding their response to the suggestion of appointing a mediator.
If agreed, the court will appoint a former chief justice or Supreme Court judge as the mediator.
Senior counsel Darius Kambhata, appearing for Abhishek Lodha, the managing director of Macrotech Developers, said that they agreed to mediation but emphasized that it should be time-bound.
“We will go by the advice of the Honourable Bombay High Court” a spokesperson for Abhinandan’s Lodha Ventures said. The High Court will hear the matter on Tuesday.
The petition filed by Macrotech said by using the Lodha name, significant efforts were made to mislead the buyers into believing that House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL) is part of Lodha and the goodwill and brand perception of Lodha was used to scale up Abhinandan’s business.
“The plaintiff company, who is the registered proprietors of the ‘Lodha’ trademarks, has neither in the past nor till date hereof granted any no-objection/permission to the defendants for the use of ‘House of Abhinandan Lodha’,” the application said.
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Lodha Ventures spokesperson last week said Lodha Ventures and Lodha FinServ were given to Abhinandan as part of the settlement process and the understanding was “Lodha” name was not to be used on a standalone basis in Real Estate and hence we have our companies as – 1) Lodha Ventures , 2) The House of Abhinandan Lodha – which is their real estate arm 3) Lodha Finserv ( Non Operative now) “
Abhishek, who helms the flagship company of the group,
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