Explained: How a ₹5,000cr battle that pitted Lodha against Lodha was resolved

A longstanding family dispute has come to an end. The Lodha brothers – Abhishek and Abhinandan – along with the companies led by them, on April 14 released a joint statement that they had amicably resolved all outstanding disputes between the parties, primarily relating to the intellectual property rights on ‘Lodha’ and ‘Lodha Group’ brand names.Under the terms of the settlement, Macrotech Developers, led by elder brother Abhishek, will continue to own the ‘Lodha’ and ‘Lodha Group’ brands. Abhinandan remains the owner of ‘House of Abhinandan Lodha’ (HoABL) brand name.Macrotech Developers had filed a case in the Bombay high court last year, primarily to stop Abhinandan and the real estate companies managed by him, from using these two brand names.During the hearing, Justice Arif Doctor of Bombay HC had asked the parties to go for mediation. Retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Raveendran, was appointed mediator. Following the settlement, both brothers issued a statement expressing their gratitude to Justice Raveendran "for encouraging them to to follow the process of mediation".A detailed explainer on the dispute that saw brother pitted against brother.Lodha vs LodhaA family agreement over a real estate business worth around Rs 39,000 crore. Many alleged promises from the younger son, including to not use the family name on a standalone basis if he’s in the realty business. An alleged violation of the promise. A demand of Rs 5,000 crore.These were the issues at the heart of the intellectual property rights case filed by the flagship company of the Lodha Group, one of India’s richest real estate firms, at the Bombay HC. The suit was filed by Macrotech Developers Ltd (MDL) and Digirealty Technologies Pvt Ltd (DTPL), both headed by Abhishek, elder son of BJP leader and Maharashtra minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha.Mangal Prabhat Lodha set up the realty group in the early 1980s.The civil suit was filed against younger sibling Abhinandan and companies headed by him, such as House of Abhinandan Lodha Estate Holdings Pvt Ltd (HoABL).In January, the Justice Doctor asked the Lodha brothers to try to find an amicable solution since the dispute involved family members and appointed a mediator. medium nocaption118239387What led to the brothers parting waysThe suit filed against Abhinandan and his companies accused the younger Lodha sibling of a “deep rooted conspiracy”, “dishonesty” and creation of a debt of Rs 20,000 crore due to ‘mismanagement’ in the finance functions when he was part of the undivided family business.The suit alleged the “Lodha Group went through a near-death experience” during this period. However, the suit was silent about whether this was the reason for Abhinandan deciding to leave the company and starting his own businesses in 2015. At the time, the separation of businesses was said to be part of succession planning by the family patriarch Mangal Prabhat Lodha. A spokesperson for Lodha Ventures (that’s headed by Abhinandan) said fundamental differences had caused the younger sibling to start his own business. “Mr Abhinandan Lodha always respected his family and continues to believe that family matters should not be settled in public. This is the reason he chose to maintain a dignified silence for over 10 years in the interest of the family,” the spokesperson said.The principal allegation against Abhinandan was that he breached multiple clauses of agreements that he signed with his family and elder brother. medium nocaption118239448What the brothers had agreed onThere were four family agreements signed: In April 2015, September 2015, March 2017 and December 2023. The suit filed by Abhishek’s companies relied on the last two agreements as the March 2017 agreement cancels previous agreements.The family agreement in March 2017 was signed by Mangal Prabhat Lodha, his wife Manju, Abhishek and Abhinandan. As per the agreement, Abhishek would manage the existing real estate business of the Lodha Group. Abhinandan would start a “new business” and both brothers agreed not to interfere in the other’s business.The agreement said that Abhinandan could continue to use half of a floor in the Lodha Excelus building (the Lodha Group’s corporate office and head office) as long as he didn’t enter the real estate business. The agreement then noted that since Abhinandan had already decided to enter the real estate business in Pune, he would have to hand over the office premises in the building to the Lodha Group by October 30, 2017.The spokesperson of Lodha Ventures, however, called this claim a ‘lie’ and said that they have never started any business in Pune. As per the 2017 agreement, Abhinandan was not supposed to take up any real estate activity in the Mumbai Metropolitan area, either directly or indirectly, for a period of five years. He was also to stay out of the real estate business in the Greater London area for 30 months. medium nocaption118240043Not different enough The suit filed by the Lodha Group companies alleged that Abhinandan and his companies are engaged in misusing “the goodwill and brand strength of Lodha Group to gain credibility in the market place and deceive consumers”.The suit said it’s “fairly evident” the business was “intentionally branded” as ‘House of Abhinandan Lodha’ to “confuse” customers and “pass off” the offerings as those of the Lodha Group.The case relied on a clause in the 2017 family agreement titled “IPR”, which said that all intellectual property rights of the Lodha real estate business including trade name, brand name, logo, design, copyright and goodwill of the group are legally owned by Lodha Developers Pvt Ltd. The original name of the Lodha Group parent company was Lodha Developers Pvt Ltd, which later became Macrotech Developers Ltd. 118275043The agreement said that Abhinandan or his “new business” could not use any of the listed intellectual property rights in any manner. The clause said that Abhinandan’s “new business” will be entitled to advertise itself as ‘Abhinandan Lodha Venture/Project’ but will have to develop and own a distinct IPR, which should be clearly differentiated from the existing Lodha businesses.The spokesperson from Lodha Ventures countered that the firms Lodha Ventures and Lodha FinServ were given to Abhinandan as part of the settlement process. “The understanding was that the ‘Lodha’ name was not to be used on a standalone basis in real estate and hence we have our companies as – Lodha Ventures, The House of Abhinandan Lodha – which is our real estate arm, and Lodha Finserv (not operational anymore),” the spokesperson saidThe spokesperson added that despite the separation, Macrotech Developers Ltd had borrowed funds multiple times from Lodha Finserv and requested for Corporate Guarantees of and were now claiming that the above names are causing confusion. “In aggregate, the loans amounted to over Rs 900 crore while the peak outstanding at any given point in time was Rs 175 crores,” the spokesperson said. A problem with ads and Google searchesThe suit also pointed to advertisements and dedomain names from Abhinandan’s group of companies where the word “Lodha” has been prominently displayed. Abhinandan and other defendants from his companies were accused of “bidding” on search engine Google to reflect his businesses as top results when anyone searches for the word ‘Lodha’ and other related combinations. Screenshots attached show that search results for 12 different combinations on Google gave the result ‘House of Abhinandan Lodha’ as the first sponsored search result. These combinations include ‘the lodha group’, ‘lodha developers’, and ‘lodha developers Mumbai’, among others.The suit claimed this “demonstrates the malafides to pass off” the Abhinandan-owned firms as being linked to the Lodha Group.The Lodha Ventures spokesperson denied this and claimed that the business model of the House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL) involved not meeting customers physically. “HoABL follows an online-only model and is perhaps the only one across Asia, if not globally, to offer plotted land only across the screen and we have never met any of our 7,000 customers in person until the registration of the documents. So, this argument about confusing customers when they enter our office in this building is a farce,” the spokesperson said. “Their [Macrotech] intent seems to scuttle our growth. Further we are largely not present in the locations where their projects are on offer,” the spokesperson added.The spokesperson said that the company’s customers “are well educated and well informed” and “have professional managers to understand the difference between the different brands”. medium nocaption118239664Questions over being in the same buildingAnother agreement was signed by both Lodha brothers in December 2023 according to which Abhinandan could use the brand name 'House of Abhinandan Lodha' to compete in the real estate business. He would have to insure none of his businesses had names that started with ‘Lodha’. The suit also alleged that Abhinandan had bought more office space in the building that housed the Lodha group’s head office. “This is also contrary to the letter and spirit of the 2017 Agreement,” the suit said.Abhinandan and his companies were accused of procuring more offices from third parties in the same building and other buildings by the Lodha Group in Mumbai “solely towards attempts to pass off their goods and services as MDL’s and further the confusion in the minds of the consumer”.A new date was set for Abhinandan’s business to vacate the seventh floor premises in Lodha Excelus building since he was now in the real estate business.How the agreement came apartThe 2023 agreement signed between the two brothers said that in case of any issue not covered in the document or the 2017 agreement, both brothers would ensure they act “in brotherly spirit and help each other”. If that wasn’t possible, then they would “do nothing to hurt each other's interests”.However, that fell apart less than a year later. In September 2024, the Lodha Group’s flagship company sent a letter to Abhinandan alleging breach of trademark and intellectual property rights. Abhinandan responded by denying the allegations in a letter. This was followed by a letter from Abhishek to Abhinandan, reminding him to vacate the premises in Lodha Excelus building. The suit did not mention any response by Abhinandan. Later that month, Abhinandan wrote a letter justifying the use of his name as a trademark and adding that it was different from the Lodha trademark. He claimed the websites with the name ‘Lodha’ in their domain names were being used by “independent brokers” without his knowledge and the association with them had been discontinued. In November, Abhishek wrote to Abhinandan again alleging a breach of the last two agreements, infringement of trademarks and IPR, and the younger brother’s companies not vacating the Lodha Excelus building. “While you have repeatedly not complied with the terms of the Agreement and not adhered to the timelines agreed for performance of various obligations undertaken in the Agreement despite reminders from me, I have till date not taken any precipitative steps but have waited patiently for your compliance to ensure that our parents’ health is not negatively impacted,” he wrote. He added that the “deliberate, repeated and continuing breaches” seemed to indicate Abhinandan had “no intention to abide by the terms of the Agreement.”Abhinandan responded asking his brother to cite the agreements, but referred to them as “alleged agreements”. His elder brother replied with a letter saying the use of word “alleged” showed Abhinandan’s intentions of not adhering to them and he would consider it a rejection of the agreements.On December 23, Abhinandan wrote to his brother seeking copies of the “alleged agreements”. A month later, the suit was filed in the Bombay HC.The spokesperson for Lodha Ventures, in response to allegations of violating previous agreements, said: “We would like to categorically state that we have operated under the brand The House of Abhinandan Lodha which has a registered trademark since 2020. It may not be prudent to respond further as these documents have already been submitted to the Honourable Bombay High Court and all such words would be scrutinised and assessed at the highest level legally i.e. the Court."