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Intellectual Property Insurance
Intellectual property insurance could be one of your most important assets.
With average patent lawsuits in the UK easily exceeding £1,000,000 per side, having the appropriate insurance in place can remove the potentially high financial burden of protecting your intellectual property (IP).
So, if IP is core to how you do business, discover how you can protect it from a range of risks:
- Defend your business against allegations of intellectual property (IP) infringement
- Enforce your own intellectual property (IP)
- Provide indemnity to a third-party
The Alan Boswell Group Difference
Alan Boswell Group can provide expertise on all aspects of commercial insurance, from the initial steps taken when setting up a new business through to any potential sale. Not only can we help with your warranty & indemnity insurance but we can also help with financial advice post-sale.
As an local independent insurance broker we have access to a wide range of products, so we can provide you with the best solution for your business. Add to this service our outstanding in-house claims team and risk management solutions and you have your ideal insurance partner.
Professional and very helpful. Alan Boswell showed their level of commitment by having the relevant people attend the meetings we had. These meeting went well even with us asking the most basic questions. The team made us feel that no question was too silly and showed a professional approach at all times.
Intellectual Property Insurance in detail
IP protection allows you to defend your business efficiently, preserve its finances and reputation and without unnecessarily affecting the bottom line – so your business can continue to operate while the claim is resolved.
And whether you work in life sciences, software development, or manufacturing, there’s a chance your business could find itself defending claims of Intellectual Property (IP), copyright, or patent infringement and this broad policy can be arranged to cover both single projects and portfolios, allowing you to defend claims from around the world.
Risks can also arise when commercial transactions occur, such as merger, acquisition or sale of your IP portfolio. The relevant IP insurance can protect against the representations and warranties given as part of this.
Plus, with limits up to £15m available – and no unnecessary exclusions – you’ll have complete peace of mind.
Included:
- All IP – including patents, trademarks, copyright, and trade secrets
- Expert legal assistance
- Defence costs
- Payment of damages
- Contractual indemnities and ‘hold harmless’ undertakings given to other parties
- Loss of IP right
- Loss mitigation measures
- Counter-claims
- Product recall
- Loss of profit
- Investigation costs
- Reputation management
Optional add-ons:
- Pursuit costs – if your IP is breached
- Withdrawal expenses
All of this will protect your core assets.
- Cashflow Avoid the need to tie up cash to defend against an allegation of IP infringement
- Hold value Avoid diminished value in your IP portfolio
- Avoid re-engineering Avoid hefty re-engineering costs to ensure non-infringement
- Protect your patents Provide you with the wherewithal to pursue a third-party who has infringed your patent
- Protect your suppliers Indemnify a customer which receives a lawsuit for selling your product
How to get a quote
All we need to get started is a full description of your business, including what makes the company, product, or services unique; revenue split by country and product; business plan (if you’re a start-up) and details of any previous claims.
Some examples of how IP insurance works:
UK company operating in the construction industry:
- Action in the UK High court brought by a US-based company that had patents in the UK
- Patent infringement – defence
- Outcome – action lost by the insurer
- Costs in excess of £400,000
- Recovery of costs – insured liable for the US company’s costs
- Client had £1,000,000 indemnity
UK manufacturer of loudspeaker systems
- Action in Germany against a German company importing products from China
- Patent infringement – pursuit by the UK company (under its German patent)
- Outcome – successful with substantial damages awarded in favour of the client
- Costs just in excess of £200,000
- Recovery of costs – circa £195,000
- Client had £1,000,000 indemnity
UK baby products company
- Action in UK High Court
- Patent infringement – pursuit
- Outcome – action won by the insured
- Costs in excess of £250,000
- Recovery of costs circa 70%
- Client had £100,000 indemnity limit
UK medical devices company
- Action in USA District Court
- Patent infringement – defence
- Outcome – agreed settlement
- Action took four years to resolve
- Costs in excess of £900,000
- Recovery of costs = NIL
- Client had a £1,000,000 indemnity
FAQs
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Defence is the standard feature. This covers legal defence fees and expenses if you inadvertently infringe someone else’s IP (e.g. plagiarism, passing off). A good IP solicitor may cost upwards of £500 per hour, and developments in communications technology mean that your infringement may be more easily identified.
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Pursuit costs. This covers your legal expenses for pursuing people who infringe your own IP. It’s a “fighting fund”, and is a separate purchase to be added to your insurance portfolio.
Agreements. This covers the costs of pursuing or defending a case in which an existing IP exploitation agreement starts to go wrong.
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Possibly. Innocent infringement of third-party IP is sometimes covered by these policies but, very often, patents and claims brought in courts outside of Europe will be excluded. Additionally, not all businesses have professional indemnity cover.
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Yes, some sectors are at greater risk than others. If you primarily work in the creative sector, intellectual property insurance should be a must; protecting your primary asset value will be vital.
Almost certainly if you have valuable IP and do not have the wherewithal to protect it.
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Premiums vary wildly but can start from as little as £1,000 for the most basic cover and reach tens of thousands for the most comprehensive protection.
Get in touch
Ian Bowes
Account Executive
Ian left Downham Market sixth form and joined Aviva in Cambridge in 1987 working in their Personal Department. In 1993 he left to join insurance…
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