Historically, insurance covering patent infringement has been cost prohibitive. However, Reed Smith has worked with our client, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), to develop a focused insurance product that can change the entire dynamic of a patent assertion in favor of the accused. The insurance product is exclusive to ANA members.
In the advertising space, Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs) have been increasingly in the news by claiming ownership of many common digital advertising practices, including using QR codes to direct a mobile device user to web content, putting a store locator on a website, superimposing a facial image on an animated body image, placing static ads in a video stream, and embedding a URL in a text message to direct a mobile device to web content. As a result, marketers and/or their agencies could be faced with demands to pay large fees to PAEs that have not provided any direct services or technology to an advertising campaign.
To address this issue, the insurance product provides focused patent infringement defense insurance protection for marketing and advertising activities. The insurance will permit the insured party to challenge the validity of the patent, or otherwise defend against the assertion, with greatly reduced out-of-pocket expense, and at a very low premium. This rebalances a patent assertion negotiation in favor of the targeted party. For more details, see the ANA Press Release.
This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.
