Indran Shanmuganathan

Indran Shanmuganathan is a Partner at Shearn Delamore & Co., specializing in Intellectual Property Law. His practice focuses on IP litigation—including trademark, copyright, patent, and industrial design disputes—and he regularly appears as Lead Counsel in complex and novel cases before the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Federal Court. He also handles non-contentious IP matters such as transactional advisory, registration, due diligence, IP protection strategies, franchising, media broadcasting, and e-commerce agreements, as well as data privacy and competition law compliance.

Indran was Lead Counsel in the landmark Merck Sharp & Dohme v Hovid Berhad case, where he successfully persuaded the Federal Court to overturn its previous binding decision on patent law—an achievement accomplished only six times in Malaysia's history since 1967, and the first IP case to achieve this. He also led the Federal Court appeals in Liwayway Marketing Corporation v Oishi Group (expungement of trademark and survey evidence standards), McLaren International Ltd v Lim Yat Meen (locus standi for trademark cancellation), and Meidi-Ya Co Ltd v Meidi (M) Sdn Bhd (passing-off and territorial scope of trademark rights). Other notable reported cases include El Baik Food Systems (establishing cross-border goodwill without physical presence in Malaysia), New-West Management Group (interlocutory injunction and restraint of trade exceptions), and USA Pro IP Limited (non-use and burden of proof for trademark expungement). He has advised major industry players including pharmaceutical companies, automotive brands, hotel chains, sporting bodies, and consumer product companies on IP enforcement and anti-counterfeiting.

Indran holds an LL.B (Hons) from the University of Leicester and is a Barrister-at-Law of Lincoln's Inn. He was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 1997, and also admitted in England & Wales (1996) and Singapore (2002). He is a registered Trademark Agent, Industrial Design Agent, and Geographical Indications Agent.

Indran has been widely recognised: Chambers Asia-Pacific ranks him in Band 4 for Intellectual Property; IAM Patent 1000 and World Trademark Review list him among the world's leading IP practitioners; Asialaw named him Outstanding Practitioner in Malaysia (2019) and a Leading Lawyer in Intellectual Property; and Who's Who Legal has named him a Global Leader in Trademarks. He was also listed as one of the "World's leading IP strategists" and continues to be actively involved in IP enforcement with government bodies.