Real estate developer Macrotech Developers, which is helmed by Abhishek Lodha has approached the Bombay High Court asking to intervene and restrain the House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL), a company set up by his younger brother, Abhinandan Lodha, from using the brand name ‘Lodha’ in any form.
The petition filed by Macrotech Developers pressed for an ‘urgent interim and ad-interim relief’ in order to stop the House of Abhinandan Lodha from using “all or any reference to the Lodha trade marks and/or any other mark/logo/label/trade dress identical with and/or deceptively and/or confusingly similar in any manner whatsoever”.
A spokesperson from Macrotech Developers said, “Lodha’s brand has been built with lots of investment and effort over 40 years. It is critical for the company to protect its IPR and ensure that no other developer creates confusion of being similar to / same as our brand. Our shareholders include the world’s most renowned investors and one of India’s largest charitable entities – we are duty bound to protect our company’s valuable rights.”
Macrotech is represented by Veritas Legal. In the petition, the company said that the Lodha name has attained distinctiveness and is “extremely popular” due to its open, continuous, exclusive and extensive use and publicity by Macrotech.
Macrotech further added that in view of the 2017 agreement, the defendants are expressly prohibited from using the Lodha trademarks and/or any trademark deceptively similar.
Macrotech Developers said that multiple attempts were made at amicable resolution but they never worked. A company spokesperson said, “The Lodha brand has been built over four decades and is now being represented by Macrotech Developers Ltd. Since the family settlement was executed in 2015-17, it has been observed that our trademark “Lodha” and “Lodha Group” continue to be used by House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL) in their marketing materials. Significant market confusion is being created by this unauthorized usage, whereby numerous buyers are being led to believe that a connection with our organization is being maintained. Although multiple attempts at amicable resolution have been made, these practices have continued to be perpetuated.”
In 2015, the two brothers had split the real estate empire created by patriarch Mangal Prabhat Lodha. Marcotech is a listed entity being run by Abhishek Lodha. The House of Abhinandan Lodha was established in 2021 and is a privately held company and is part of Lodha Ventures. The firm has developed land in Maharashtra, Goa, and Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.
Abhinandan Lodha, Chairman, The House of Abhinandan Lodha, said, “We feel the issue has been raised now looking at the success of our new generation plotted land business under our company ‘The House of Abhinandan Lodha’ which Macrotech Developers is unable to digest . Just in the last four years that we have been in this business, we have projects at 16 locations. Sold 12 million sqft and have another 38 million sqft under development. Our Gross value of sales has been over Rs 6500 crore to over 7000 customers across 25 countries, 23 states, 107 cities which include top Indian cities including NCR, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, and international cities like New York, London, Singapore, Dubai, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, etc.”