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Intellectual Property Office gov.uk

Intellectual property insurance

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About Intellectual Property (IP) and insurance

How can I learn more about the IP I may own and how to protect it?

All businesses have IP and it may well be your most valuable asset. Like other business assets you can get insurance to protect against risks associated with your IP. Much of this insurance (but not all) is aimed at businesses who have already secured IP rights. However, you can also protect yourself against inadvertently infringing the rights of others.

To decide if your business could benefit from investing in IP insurance you firstly need to recognise, understand and if appropriate, protect your IP. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has a range of free online tools to help you understand more about trade marks, designs, patents and copyright.

What is before the event IP legal expenses insurance?

‘Before the event’ or ‘BTE’ legal expenses insurance (LEI) policies can cover you against your own legal costs and/or the legal costs of someone you are in dispute with.

However, BTE LEI will only cover risk before a claim is made or before the possibility of a claim is known about or ought to be known about. In relation to IP, you can only get BTE cover if the (alleged) infringement has not yet occurred. A decision to take out BTE insurance is important and you should consider it as early as possible.

What types of IP Insurance products are available?

Insurance products can cover one or more rights and a variety of IP risks including:

  • opinion only: covers legal costs of you obtaining an opinion on the likelihood of successfully enforcing or defending an IP claim (see also IPO patent and proposed designs opinions)
  • enforcement and defence: covers legal costs of you taking action to stop others infringing IP rights and defending allegations of infringement. Can cover enforcement and defence either separately or together
  • damages: covers any damages payable if you lost an infringement action
  • validity: covers legal costs of defending challenges to validity of your rights

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