TVS Group's family members enter into 'brand agreement'

Family members of the $8.5-billion TVS Group have executed a brand agreement with respect to the use, adoption, and registration of the firm's word marks, which include trademarks and related composite marks. These marks include TVS, Sundaram, and several others. They may also contain an additional element other than the word mark, in the form of either a prefix or suffix.

Senior family members have said that this is just a procedural part of the family agreement.

TVS Group companies including Sundram Fasteners, TVS Srichakra, and Sundaram-Clayton (the holding company of TVS Motor) said back in January, the members of the TVS family entered into an agreement to record their understanding of the use, adoption, and registration of "TVS", "Sundaram", or "Sundram" (which collectively constitute word marks) trademarks and several others, which contain additional elements such as a prefix or suffix ( known as composite marks), basis of the terms and conditions as have been specified in the agreement (brand agreement). 

Entities controlled by various members of the TVS family may have executed, or will execute, similar deeds of adherence to become parties of the brand agreement.

In order to preserve harmony and peace among the family, senior nominated members entered into a brand agreement to record their understanding with respect to the use, adoption, and registration of the aforementioned marks, based on the terms and conditions of the agreement. This happened pursuant to the Memorandum of Family Arrangement (MFA), dated December 10, 2020, and meetings held on January 27, 2021 of the members. 
 

TVS Group has embarked on a restructuring exercise whereby each family group would get complete ownership of the companies they manage and the holding company structure would be abolished. A MFA dated December 10, 2020 had been executed between various members of the family who are shareholders of T V Sundram Iyengar & Sons, Sundaram Industries, and Southern Roadways — collectively referred to as TVS holding companies.

The senior nominated members of the TVS family, in a bid to implement the MFA, had filed a composite scheme of amalgamation and arrangement with the National Company Law Tribunal's Chennai Bench.