Geetanjali Visvanathan
Geetanjali Visvanathan
Partner
Geetanjali Visvanathan
Partner

Geetanjali Visvanathan is a litigator and a transactional lawyer. She routinely represents clients in high stakes intellectual property litigation and commercial disputes across various courts in India including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi and Nainital.

Geetanjali specializes in copyright, media and entertainment, and information technology laws. In a previous role, she was also a key team member in important cases determining the scope of plant varieties protection, and the interplay between copyright and design law protection.

Her clients include Super Cassettes (T-Series), Voltas, Wipro, PT Djarum, BuzzFeed, Hosting Concepts, Porkbun, Wieden + Kennedy, Bharati Bhawan, Bajaj Consumer, Segula and artists such as Vishal-Shekhar, Daler Mehndi, and Troy and Arif.

Representative Matters
  • Advising T-Series on music licensing, involving publishing, bespoke synchronization and adaptation licenses, distribution contracts with DSPs such as Spotify, Jio Saavn and short video apps such as Resso, TikTok etc.
  • Advising and representing T-Series in music acquisition from producers and authors. Representative deals include acquiring music for blockbuster films such as RRR, KGF Chapter 2, Fighter, Dunki etc.
  • Advising T-Series in negotiations on film distribution. Representative deals include negotiations with leading OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Jio Cinema, Zee5 for hits such as Animal, Adipurush, Action Hero, Lal Singh Chadha, Ludo, Haseen Dilruba and Mumbai Saga.
  • Successfully represented T-Series against RBEP Entertainment in a complex contractual and copyright infringement dispute where the law relating to assignment and re-assignment in copyright was clarified and termination of the contract by RBEP was held as invalid.
  • Successfully defended T-Series in a copyright infringement case filed by Shemaroo by demonstrating a faulty chain of title and lack of ownership of the works in question.
  • Played a pivotal role in key deals with industry-wide implications. Examples include spearheading an Indian Government-approved settlement between the music industry and Indian Singers Right Association, and negotiating terms on behalf of T-Series for its return as a member of the Indian Performing Rights Society after a hiatus of ten years.
  • Successfully represented Lahari Music in India’s first statutory licensing and radio rate setting exercise for broadcast of sound recordings and underlying literary and musical works.
  • Successfully represented International Tractors Limited before the Trade Marks Registry to have the mark, SONALIKA declared as well known.
Education
  • Army Institute of Law, Mohali (B.A., LL.B., 2009)
  • New York University, School of Law, New York (LL.M. – Competition, Innovation and Information Law, 2013-2014)
Admissions
  • Bar Council of Delhi (2009)
Prior Work Experience
  • Anand and Anand, New Delhi
Awards
  • Awarded the Batra Silver Sterling Trophy for the Law of Evidence at Army Institute of Law, Mohali
  • Recipient of All India Certificate of Merit and Scholarship in 2006 and 2007