What Is Intellectual Property Insurance?
Intellectual property insurance is a part of aprofessional liability insurance policy. It helps protect your business from claims that it infringed on another person or business’ intellectual property (IP).
Protecting IP is very important for businesses in many industries, especially technology. Innovation fuels the technology industry. It’s about inventing newer and better ways to accomplish tasks, all while keeping two steps ahead of the competition while they feverishly work to do it even better and faster than you. Sometimes, the brilliance shines so bright it results in a whole new product category that no one knew they needed, but now can’t live without.
In this super-fast paced environment, your business’ success depends on protecting IP. This includes your company’s intellectual property and third-party IP.
Is IP Infringement Covered by Insurance?
IP protection insurance covers Intellectual property infringement. In addition, IP insurance covers claims related to patent, copyright or trademark infringement.
Intellectual property insurance helps protect your business from claims related to IP infringement. It can help cover your legal costs if you get sued, such as your:
- Attorney fees
- Defense costs
- Settlements
- Judgments
Without this insurance protection, you’d have to cover claim costs and legal fees out of pocket. Not many businesses have the resources to do this. So, IP infringement claims can put your business at financial risk.
If you find out that another person or company is using your business’ IP without permission, you can sue them for infringement. Intellectual property insurance coverage can also help pay your expenses to do this.
What Different Types of IP Protection Insurance Are There?
There are two types of IP protection insurance, which affects how coverage works.
Infringement defense helps cover your business’ costs if it gets sued for IP infringement.
Abatement enforcement coverage helps pay the costs for your business to pursue legal action against another person or business using your IP.
Risk Avoidance Measures
Small business owners can take different risk avoidance measures to protect their company and IP. This includes:
Identifying valuable information and assets. Register original work with the U.S. Library of Congress Copyright Office.
Consider registering information assets, such as computer programs and databases as “literary works” which may offer more complete protection.
Read how the United States Patent and Trademark Office commits to providing leadership in the area of intellectual property law and policy.
Rewarding innovative thinking. Tech products and services can have long incubation periods. And when you’re reinventing the wheel, or inventing an entirely new rolling object, there will be failed concepts and dead ends along the way. Keep your creative engineers motivated all along the development path by rewarding creative efforts, not just delivery.
Understanding your competition. Gauge how your product development cycles might be affected by your competitor’s efforts. Be nimble enough to accelerate schedules or change direction if you spot a better opportunity.
Getting intellectual property insurance. Some insurers offer flexible coverage that you can customize to meet your business’ needs.
How Much Does Intellectual Property Insurance Cost?
Intellectual property insurance costs vary because every small business is unique. Insurance companies use different factors to determine costs of IP insurance. This can include:
- Type of business
- Location
- Revenue
The best way to find out how much intellectual property insurance will cost is to call855-943-3653 to get a quote.
Last Updated: May 13, 2024
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