(This story originally appeared in on Nov 08, 2016)

NEW DELHI: If Donald Trump does win, he would be a US president familiar with Indian courts, having been a plaintiff here once.Nearly six years ago, Delhi high court had its tryst with Trump when he filed a suit of trademark infringement and demanded hefty damages.Court records show Trump's suit lingered on for roughly three years and ended in a settlement, robbing the judges a chance to test the merits of Trump's legal case in an Indian court, and deliver a verdict.Donald J Trump's grouse was against Kotak Mahindra Bank for launching a credit card called Trump, a move that he saw as violation of his trademark. In the suit filed in the Delhi HC, Trump's lawyers demanded that the bank be immediately restrained from issuing credit cards of this name and claimed "statutory and equitable rights over the trademark TRUMP".They challenged the bank's decision to sell "Kotak Trump Card' as part of its credit card business. But the HC refused to grant any interim relief to Trump and as the case meandered on, several judges heard the dispute.Interestingly, after the case meandered on for some time, both Trump and Kotak Mahindra indicated their willingness to give settlement a shot to resolve the disputes between them. The HC then appointed a mediator and sent their dispute to the Delhi high court mediation cell."The parties submit that they would be willing to sit across the table and explore the possibility of a settlement by recourse to mediation. In view of the above, it is directed that the parties through their authorized representative shall appear in the Delhi high court mediation and conciliation centre on 25th February, 2011 at 4.30 pm," one of the HC orders said.Senior advocate Sudhanshu Batra was then appointed mediator by the HC and he tried to resolve the case. Batra told TOI, "Trump was very categorical that the name TRUMP can't be used at all. But because of absence of his physical presence the case couldn't be taken to its logical conclusion in mediation." While he refused to go into the specifics of the negotiations citing confidentiality, Batra hinted Trump's inflexibile stand didn't exactly help matters.Even though the HC had allowed mediation to be conducted through tele-conferencing, none of the laywers associated with the case remember Trump being present in the video conferences to take up the issue.With mediation efforts failing to break the impasse the case again reached the judges and it was only in 2013 that talk of out of court settlement gained momentum. Court records show that in August 2013 the HC warned Trump and Kotak Mahindra if they fail to settle by October, the court will frame issues and adjudicate.It was finally in the fag end of October 2013 that a settlement was agreed upon. Later, the bank renamed the Trump Card and launched a fresh brand.