Mohanty was previously a partner-designate at Luthra and Luthra Law Offices. He focuses on equity capital markets, securities law and listed company advisory. He regularly advises issuers, intermediaries and other market participants on a wide range of transactional, regulatory, and corporate governance matters.

His experience spans private practice at leading law firms as well as an in-house legal role with the National Stock Exchange of India, where he advised on securities law and regulatory matters for listed entities.

Saswat has advised on a broad range of complex capital markets transactions, including initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, rights issues, qualified institutional placements and preferential issues. His experience covers the full transaction lifecycle, including the preparation and filing of offer documents, transaction structuring and documentation, legal due diligence, and regulatory compliance.

He has advised clients across a diverse range of sectors, including aerospace and defence, e-commerce, financial services, food and beverage, gems and jewellery, healthcare, information technology, infrastructure and manufacturing.

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With more than 20 years of equity and debt capital markets experience, Rajput has deep expertise across the defence, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, infrastructure, renewable energy, hospitality, entertainment, mining, oil and gas, real estate, financial services and banking sectors.

Rajput has advised clients across the full spectrum of capital markets transactions. His experience spans the whole IPO journey, from the preparatory stage and red-flag identification through to due diligence and post-listing compliance.

He has advised on follow-on public offers, rights issues, qualified institutional placements, alternative investment market listings, business trust listings, American depository receipts, global depository receipts, foreign currency convertible bonds and Singapore Exchange medium-term note offerings.

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Walden Robotics said other backers included Nvidia, Boeing, AE Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Prologis Ventures and CoreWeave Ventures. The financing round valued the company at USD1.1 billion.

Nishimura & Asahi represented Toyota, with the team comprising partners Atsushi Mizushima and Yotaro Takayama, as well as law professional corporation partner Satoshi Niki.

“We advised Toyota on the overall transaction, including the investment structure, key investment terms, drafting and negotiation of the transaction documents, and collaboration arrangements relating to Toyota’s North American manufacturing operations,” Takayama told Asia Business Law Journal.

Takayama said one of the key highlights was that the valuation at which the financing round was completed elevated Walden Robotics to unicorn status.

“Another notable feature of the transaction was that Walden is a startup spun out of the Toyota Research Institute, Toyota Motor Corporation’s US-based research and development organisation, and continues to maintain a strategic collaborative relationship with Toyota,” he said.

“We therefore sought to provide advice that appropriately reflected both Toyota’s role as a lead investor, and its ongoing commercial and strategic relationship with the company.”

Wilson Sonsini represented Toyota alongside Nishimura & Asahi, with the team led by partners Yoichiro Taku, co-leader of the firm’s emerging companies practice, and Joshua Gruenspecht.

Walden Robotics is a full-stack physical AI company that builds and deploys general-purpose robots for industrial manufacturing and logistics.

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The dispute is straightforward: Zee contends that Meta’s licence, which grants users access to some of its music catalogue on its platform Instagram, is restricted only to personal or non-commercial use. It is alleged that Nykaa used Zee’s copyrighted songs in promotional reels for its products without a commercial licence.

Nykaa removed the disputed content but asked to make Meta a party in the dispute, arguing that Meta could clarify the scope of the licence better. (Note that this enforcement action is not isolated, and is part of Zee’s broader effort around licensing compliance in digital advertising.)

Revisiting rights of copyright owners

The dispute has many angles to it. For example, it revisits the rights of copyright owners. Ordinarily, copyright owners can exclusively reproduce, communicate, adapt and commercially exploit their works (e.g. a sound recording). Unauthorised commercial use of works may amount to infringement if there are no statutory exceptions or licensing arrangements to the contrary.

This case also illustrates the complexity of platform-based licensing models. Social media platforms often negotiate blanket licensing agreements with music rights holders to allow the use of music in user-generated content. These licences usually distinguish personal from commercial use, but there is a mistaken assumption that commercial use is automatically permissible.

For businesses with digital marketing strategies using short-form videos and influencer collaborations, music is a key tool for consumer engagement and brand recall. This case demonstrates the legal risks for all stakeholders involved in digital marketing, including brands, advertising agencies, influencers and content creators.

Value and responsibility over IP assets

Another issue concerns intermediary liability. Nykaa’s request to implead Meta highlights the question of allocation of responsibility. Who is liable in such cases? Businesses creating promotional content? Platforms providing licensed music libraries? The users themselves? (Note that users rarely have agency in such arrangements, with their rights influenced by the licensing deals between rights holders and platforms.)

Yet another aspect is the growing commercial value of music catalogues. More than ever, media companies treat music rights as valuable IP generating revenue across streaming services, social media, advertising and audiovisual productions.

Naturally, industry strategy would include enforcement against unauthorised use to protect the economic value of IP assets.

Chance to modernise music licensing 

From a policy perspective, India is at an inflection point. This dispute is an opportunity to modernise music licensing frameworks, e.g. by revisiting transparency norms around licensing terms and mandating clearer disclosures by platforms to reduce inadvertent infringement. Standardised, industry-wide licences would promote legal certainty while encouraging creative commercial expression.

For businesses, corporate copyright compliance also gains importance, e.g. due diligence before publishing promotional content; streamlined internal compliance policies and legal reviews; and regular licensing audits.

Users responsible for copyright material����

This also underscores that users are ultimately responsible for the use of copyrighted material.

Permissions and features on social media platforms are governed by their terms of use, IP policy and applicable licensing arrangements; these may not extend to all forms of commercial or promotional use.

Users must, therefore, carefully review terms and understand the scope of rights granted before using any material. This includes verifying whether: (1) the intended use is authorised; (2) additional permissions or licences are needed; and (3) any third party IP rights are implicated. This diligence can mitigate risks of copyright infringement and ensure overall compliance.

The Zee-Nykaa dispute is no common or garden-variety copyright infringement action because its outcome will likely impact commercial use of copyrighted material, intermediary responsibility, digital marketing and platform licensing, defining the next era for India’s digital economy.

Essenese Obhan is the managing partner and Ayesha Guhathakurta is an associate partner at Obhan Mason

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Freshfields said the acquisition would give Allianz Global Investors greater access to high-growth markets including Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, while expanding its presence in Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia. The deal is also expected to increase the assets it manages for clients in the Asia-Pacific region to more than EUR170 billion (USD196 billion).

Drew & Napier, led by deputy CEO Ong Sim Ho, acted as strategy and tax counsel to UOB Group. The firm said the transaction included a long-term distribution partnership between UOB Group and Allianz Global Investors.

Freshfields represented Allianz Global Investors through a multi-jurisdictional team comprising partners David Schwintowski and Simon Weller, counsel Daniel Boyle, senior associates James Parkin, Shavonne Oh and Allen Yan, and associates Kevin Fan and Gordon Choi.

Singapore-based TSMP Law Corporation was part of the global team led by Freshfields, advising Allianz Global Investors. The firm’s team included partners June Ho, Mark Jacobsen and Ian Lim, associate director Chow Jian Hui, senior associates Kashib Shareef Ahmad, Markus Low and Stasia Ong, and trainee solicitor Ye Dam Kim.

Freshfields said UOBAM operated across eight key Asian markets – Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam. The global law firm said the company had EUR28 billion in assets under management.

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“Returning to private practice from a corporate vice-president role is a carefully considered professional homecoming for me,” Yang told China Business Law Journal. “More than 10 years of in-house experience have given me a deeper understanding of companies’ commercial logic and risk concerns. Hui Ye’s open and professional platform provides ideal ground for my practice.”

Yang joined Tianyu Bio Technology in 2021, successively serving as legal manager, deputy legal director and legal director, before becoming vice president of the company in October 2025. Before joining Tianyu Bio Technology, she worked at Suntech Power as a senior legal officer. Earlier in her career, she held legal officer roles at Lianjia Real Estate and Glorious Property.

Throughout her in-house career, Yang has accumulated cross-sector experience in risk control and compliance system building. She is qualified as a senior corporate compliance officer and holds securities practice credentials.

Looking ahead to the next stage of her career, Yang said: “Drawing on the team’s deep experience in commercial disputes and compliance regulation, I will continue to deepen my practice and deliver services that combine commercial understanding with practical expertise, becoming the most trusted external legal adviser to companies.”

Yang led her team to win an Outstanding Achievement Award under China Business Law Journal’s In-house Impact Awards in 2025.

CBLJ In-house Impact Awards

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CBLJ In-house Impact Awards open for submission

The 2026 edition of China Business Law Journal’s In-house Impact Awards is now open for submission. The award is designed to demonstrate the extraordinary contributions of in-house legal teams toward their companies and industries

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For more stories, visit law.asia.

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TT&A advised Carrier Global, an international  leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions, on the India leg of its acquisition of 75F, a leading innovator in cloud-native, wireless and AI-enabled building automation systems.

Paul Weiss acted as international counsel for Carrier Global, while Avisen Legal advised 75F. The TT&A team was led by partners Neville Golwalla and Gayatri Chadha, senior associate Samiksha Kothari and associate Pranav Kandada.

The transaction involved the acquisition of 75F’s Indian subsidiaries, 75F Smart Innovations India and 75F Engineering Services India.

The acquisition strengthens Carrier Global’s intelligent building capabilities across a range of applications, from complex applied systems and high-growth data centres to light commercial buildings and retrofit projects.

The combination of capabilities advanced Carrier Global’s strategy to create increasingly autonomous and self-optimising buildings by bringing together connected equipment, intelligent controls and digital solutions on a unified platform that simplified deployment, connected building data and enabled agentic AI, TT&A said.

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Managed by investment firm Ninety One, the EAAIF provides long-term commercial debt for crucial infrastructure projects in Asia and Africa. Ukko RE is a Singapore-based clean energy development platform owned by Groupe Duval, a French real estate and investment group.

The financing will aid in the continued development of Ukko RE’s portfolio of wind, solar and hydropower projects in Vietnam, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian jurisdictions.

The Hogan Lovells Cadwalader team was led by Matt Bubb, head of the firm’s infrastructure, energy, resources and projects practice for the Asia-Pacific region. He was assisted by partners Kaveeta Sandhu and Timothy Goh, counsel David Rho, senior associate Wei Lun Koh, and associates Josh Everett, Ashleigh Gan and Precia Lian.

The firm’s Paris office, including partner Olivier Fillie-Lambie, counsel Alexandre Salem and associates Takudzwa Matondo and Jean-Noe Mwizerwa provided further support.

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The Green Singapore Government Securities (Infrastructure) bond issuance also includes around SGD7.62 million in aggregate principal amount made available to Singapore retail investors through a public offering.

Amit Singh, head of South and Southeast Asia capital markets, led the Linklaters team with capital markets partner Xunming Lim. Providing legal counsel to the arrangers and joint lead managers, they were supported by managing associate Alwyn Loy, and associates Ashley Loh and Reeve Chia.

“We advised on compliance with international securities laws and regulations, and various execution processes relating to the update of the programme and the issuance of the bonds, including to Singapore retail investors,” Lim told Asia Business Law Journal.

Singh said there were several notable features associated with the issuance, including the strong level of investor demand.

“The offering also included a public offer to retail investors in Singapore, which entailed additional complexity. Under the programme, the government is authorised to issue securities for moneys borrowed under the Significant Infrastructure Government Loan Act 2021 of Singapore (SINGA),” he told ABLJ.

“This latest transaction is another important milestone in Singapore’s sovereign green finance journey and reflects the continued development of its sustainable finance market.”

Linklaters said proceeds from the issuance would go towards financing expenditures under the Singapore Green Bond Framework.

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However, the authors are confident that companies can use international arbitration cost-effectively, and can do so even if the amount in dispute may not be especially large.

This article discusses potential ways to reduce the cost and length of international arbitral proceedings, as well as factors that may encourage companies to consider how arbitration can be conducted more efficiently, and less expensively, than they would have imagined.

Expedited procedures cut arbitration time

First, where possible, use the expedited (or fast-track) procedures that most major international arbitration institutional rules offer. As the name suggests, expedited procedures are meant to enable faster and less costly arbitral proceedings than regular arbitration. Depending on the rules, expedited procedures apply if parties agree to use them, or sometimes by default, if the amount in dispute falls below a certain monetary threshold when the arbitration has commenced or the contract containing the arbitration agreement has been signed.

While regular arbitration often takes at least 12 to 18 months before a final arbitral award is issued, expedited procedure rules require the award to be made more quickly, typically not more than six months from the date the tribunal is constituted and receives the case file, or shortly afterwards.

To reduce time and cost, a sole arbitrator, rather than a three-member tribunal, usually presides over an expedited arbitration. The sole arbitrator has discretion to establish significant time and cost-saving limits for the expedited process, including to exclude document production, restrict the number and length of written submissions, and witness evidence. A sole arbitrator may decide the case based only on the documents that the parties have submitted, with no oral hearing.

Streamlining evidence, virtual hearings, procedure

Second, if an arbitral proceeding does involve document requests and witness statements, confine such requests and statements only to what is essential. Document requests and production, along with witness interviews and examination at an oral hearing, are among the most expensive and time-consuming aspects of international arbitration, so streamlining these tasks is key to enhancing cost-effectiveness.

Third, where appropriate, conduct meetings and oral hearings with the arbitrator and opposing counsel virtually, rather than in person. Preparation for and participation in such meetings and hearings unavoidably entails expense, but not having to travel can result in important cost and time efficiencies.

Fourth, avoid unnecessary procedural steps that add substantial time and cost. For example, where an arbitration involves issues relating to jurisdiction as well as liability, the question may arise as to whether the arbitral proceeding should be bifurcated, that is, divided into a first phase addressing the jurisdiction, and a second phase addressing liability.

Resist inefficient bifurcation, cut costs

If, however, the factual issues concerning jurisdiction significantly overlap with the liability issues and involve much the same documentary evidence, bifurcation would likely be procedurally inefficient (unnecessarily time consuming and costly) and should be resisted.

It is also important to keep other considerations in mind in connection with arbitration costs.

First, international arbitration rules often provide that arbitrators may decide that all or part of the lawyers’ fees and other arbitration expenses are to be borne by losing parties. In cases where losing parties act badly during the arbitration – for example, delaying or disrupting the process – arbitrators may decide that 100% of lawyers’ fees and costs are to be borne by the losing parties.

Second, in recent years an increasing number of smaller international dispute resolution firms have emerged that may be able to deliver high-quality services at more flexible and reasonable billing rates than larger law firms typically offer.

Finally, the best way to reduce the costs of international arbitration is to avoid participating in arbitration where possible.

In this regard, if a company finds itself in a cross-border dispute with a counterparty, it might consider the alternative path of resolving the matter by international mediation.

International mediation is essentially a negotiation between two disputing companies facilitated by a mediator, and is much less costly and time consuming than international arbitration, although if mediation fails the companies may still need to pursue arbitration.

Kengo Nishigaki is a representative partner and Joel Greer is a counsel (foreign registered lawyer) at GI&T Law Office in Tokyo

GI&T Law Office
23F Marunouchi
Kitaguchi Building,
1-6-5 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 100-0005, Japan

Contact details:
T: +81 3 6206 3283
E: kengo.nishigaki@giandt-law.com
E: joel.greer@giandt-law.com

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