Protecting Your Intellectual Property (IP)
For many businesses, their number one concern is that their patents, trademarks or trade secrets will be subject to a legal challenge or will be copied by others. The position of the business in the market can be severely compromised and the cost of IP litigation and the devastating impact of an injunction or title dispute can spell the end for a product line or even the company. Intangible assets are every bit as important to consider, when thinking about risk, as buildings, contents and stock.
Contracts with larger customers often contain clauses requiring a business to pay for and arrange legal defence of the customer if there is a dispute over the validity of the design of the product or service supplied. The cost of meeting such a call on the contract clause will be prohibitive in many cases.
Insurance for your IP can now be cost effective and allows you to utilise the services of your own patent or trademark attorney. Specialist insurers now use AI and data-driven processes to provide quotations quickly and a package of cover for the various IP insurance requirements of a business can be obtained starting at premiums of just £1,000.
Insurance Services Surrey can advise you on packages of cover which may include:
- Infringement – legal defence of allegations of infringing the patent, design or trademark
- Infringement – loss of future profits of the business resulting from a temporary injunction being granted to a third party in relation to IP rights
- Infringement – the legal costs to pursue other parties who have breached your patent, design or trademark
- IP title disputes – perhaps where multiple parties were involved in the development of a project
- Patent or Trademark Invalidation or Revocation – legal costs to fund a challenge
- Contractual Defence – meeting the contractual obligations to defend a customer if they are subject to a legal action relating to your business’ design, patent or trademark
- Contractual Pursuit – the legal costs to pursue a customer or a party who has breached your contract with them and adopted your IP as their own
For advice and for an indication of premium, please contact John Goodson ACII, Chartered Insurance Broker at Insurance Services Surrey, on 01483 532921 or via our contact form.