Niri Shanmuganathan – Partner

Niri Shanmuganathan

5 New Street Square
London EC4A 3TW
United Kingdom
DX 41 London

Tel. +44 (0) 20 7300 4782
Fax. +44 (0) 20 7300 7100
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Head of Intellectual Property and Media & Entertainment (UK)

Niri joined Taylor Wessing in 1993 and qualified as a solicitor in September 1995 after being awarded first class honours in his Law Society Finals.  He obtained a diploma in Intellectual Property law at Bristol University in 1996 and was made a partner in May 2002. 

Niri was listed in the up and coming law section of The 1000 London's Most Influential People 2008, ranking alongside the likes of the Shadow Home Secretary, the Lord Justice of Appeal and the Director of Public Prosecution.  He was also nominated in the 2009 Lawyer Awards as Partner of the Year.

Legal 500 2012 notes that he is "extremely knowledgeable" and "provides high quality”. He is recommended in Legal 500 for intellectual property, defamation/privacy and media and entertainment.

Niri is described by Chambers 2013 as "incredibly experienced" and "a very good litigator".   He is recommended as a leading individual (band 1) in Chambers for his defamation/reputation management work and for publishing.

He has been described by previous editions of Legal 500 as "a good tactician", "wins widespread plaudits from clients for his responsiveness" and is considered "a joy to work with"', "brilliant under pressure" with "excellent judgment". Chambers have previously described Niri as "a brilliant communicator with outstanding investigation skills. Nothing is too much trouble, and he produces results", "a superb litigator" who gives "clear, smart, creative and effective advice", and as being "a superb negotiator who is on top of his game and comes prepared – you feel comfortable around him as he always knows straight away what needs to be done".

Niri is a member of the legal group of the Publishers Association, the Anti-Counterfeiting Group, The British Literary and Artistic Copyright Association, The International Association of Entertainment Lawyers, the US Copyright Society and the Media Law Resource Centre.  He is regularly asked to give expert comment by the news media and on radio and TV, most recently quoted on (amongst others) BBC News, BBC Radio London, Bloomberg, the FT and the Times in connection with a number of IP and media cases.

He advises on all aspects of soft IP (both contentious and non-contentious).  As well as this Niri advises organisations within the publishing, advertising, sport and film/tv sectors on defamation, contempt, obscenity and privacy issues (both non-contentious pre-publication issues and contentious issues). He has also been intimately involved in giving pre-publication contractual and clearance advice regarding high profile exposés in newspapers, for political lobbying/campaigns and provides reputation management advice to corporations and high profile individuals.  His most notable cases are:

  • Recovering in excess of £1million on a copyright claim against a major mobile phone company over their use of unlicensed music.
  • Acting for the Mail on Sunday on a copyright and privacy claim brought by Madonna over her wedding photos.  This was one of the leading cases in 2009 on the assessment of damages in copyright actions.
  • Acting on one of the biggest oppositions to proceed through the Trade Mark Registry which involved over 30 witnesses of fact, 6 experts and numerous documents (including 2000 survey questionnaires).
  • Obtaining the first costs capping order awarded against a claimant bringing a defamation claim on a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
  • Successfully defending a claim by an owner of a care home who was the subject of an undercover investigation by the Evening Standard who claimed in a front page piece that some of the residents were being treated in a cruel and neglectful way.  The Claimant was represented on a CFA and withdrew her claim shortly before trial.  If the trial had gone ahead this would have been one of the biggest libel trials in recent years with 50 witnesses due to give evidence.
  • Acting for Abbie Gibson (the Beckham's nanny) in a seminal case that recognised that claimants can bring false privacy claims.
  • Acting for Dannielle Heath (the Beckhams' beautician) and Abbie Gibson in connection with their exposés.
  • Acting on the case of Lowe v Associated Newspapers Ltd which is widely regarded as one of the most important recent cases in shaping the law of fair comment.

He is also recommended in Legal Business' Legal Experts for both IP and defamation and Best Lawyers in the UK. He is listed in the Top 100 of the SuperLawyers guide.

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