Sri Lanka’s intellectual property community gathered in March 2026 to discuss the intersection of IP and sports, in an event hosted by law firm Julius & Creasy.

The event, part of the community’s preparation for the 2026 INTA meeting in London, featured a panel discussion focussing on the relationship between intellectual property and the sports sector, reflecting this year’s World Intellectual Property Day theme, “IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate!” The discussion, according to The Sunday Times, explored how branding, licensing and intellectual property rights are becoming important as sports evolves into a more commercialized industry.

The session was moderated by Dinal Phillips, President’s Counsel, and featured contributions from Anomi Wanigasekera, senior partner and head of intellectual property at Julius and Creasy; Arjun Fernando, chairman of Central Finance Company and a former national tennis player; Suranga Jayalath, group director, legal, of the Capital Maharaja Organisation; and Viraj Fernando, CEO of the Sports Apparel Division of Brandix.

The newspaper reported that participants pointed to the growing link between sport, media and commerce, highlighting that intellectual property frameworks play a central role in protecting brand value and enabling commercial partnerships. As sponsorships, merchandising and broadcast rights expand, clear ownership and enforcement of intellectual property are becoming increasingly critical.

Also this year, in July, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal that would safeguard the historical, cultural and traditional intellectual property of the Kandy Esala Perahera, one of Sri Lanka’s most renowned cultural festivals.

According to Newswire, the initiative aligns with the World Intellectual Property Organization’s project titled “Promoting Festival Tourism Development through Intellectual Property”, which aims to strengthen the capacity of cultural festival organizers to use intellectual property rights in tourism development while respecting traditions and heritage. Special focus will be placed on copyright protection and trademarks and branding to preserve the festival’s unique identity.

To prepare and submit the project proposal, the cabinet endorsed the recommendation of the Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development, under the joint chairmanship of the Minister of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs.

A committee comprising all relevant stakeholders has been appointed to oversee the process, to strengthen both festival tourism and the protection of Sri Lanka’s cultural heritage on the global stage.

It is against this backdrop of the increasing importance of IP in Colombo and elsewhere that we bring you Sri Lanka’s IP Experts, a list of 15 key intellectual property lawyers doing work in the country. Heritage Partners (Suren Gnanaraj and Eric Dathika Wikramanayake), John Wilson Partners (Sameendra Perea and John Wilson) and Sudath Perera Associates (Himani Perera and Sudath Perera) each placed two lawyers on our list. A total of 12 firms are represented on this year’s Top 15 list.

Most of the lawyers named to our list have multiple practice specialties. Many of them are litigators, while others concentrate on prosecution work or provide strategic advice.

All of them have something in common: they are experts in their fields and, in one way or another, they provide extra value for their clients. They are Asia IP’s Sri Lanka IP Experts. – GREGORY GLASS

Sri Lanka’s IP Experts is based solely on independent editorial research conducted by Asia IP. As part of this project, we turned to in-house counsel in Sri Lanka, Asia and elsewhere around the world, as well as South Asia-focused partners at international law firms, and asked them to nominate private-practice lawyers including foreign legal consultants, advisers and counsel.

The final list reflects the nominations received combined with the input of the editorial team at Asia IP, which has more than 55 years of collective experience in researching and understanding Sri Lanka’s legal market.

All private practice intellectual property lawyers in Sri Lanka were eligible for inclusion in the nominations process; there were no fees or other requirements for inclusion in the process.

The names of our 15 IP Experts are published here. Each IP Expert was given the opportunity to include their biography and contact details in print and on our website, for which a fee was charged.