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September 30th, 2015
Risk Management: New Patent Insurance Will Help Marketers Fight Claims from “Trolls”
In August 2015, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) announced a groundbreaking program to provide patent insurance to its members.
The insurance program will help advertisers manage the risk of claims from so-called Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs), also known as "patent trolls." PAEs are firms whose sole business function is to threaten or assert claims for patent infringement against targeted companies. PAEs have roiled the advertising industry by claiming ownership of common advertising practices, including QR codes, website store locators, the placement of facial images on animated body images, the placement of static ads in video streams, and the use of URLs in text messages to link viewers to web content.
Marketers and agencies have paid hefty fees to PAEs - fees that come right out of the bottom line. Until now, neither standard advertising liability policies, nor standalone policies for patent infringement, have met the specific needs of advertisers or agencies in this space, and so insurance coverage has not provided a sufficient method for planning for these risks.
ANA's insurance program attempts to address precisely this issue by providing members with focused patent infringement defense insurance protection for marketing and advertising activities. As noted in the ANA press release announcing the program, "[t]he 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 expenses."
For more information about how this program may affect advertisers or their agencies, or other advertising law issues, please contact Jeffrey A. Greenbaum at (212) 826-5525 or jgreenbaum@fkks.com; S. Gregory Boyd (CIPP/US) at (212) 826-5581 or gboyd@fkks.com, or any other member of Frankfurt Kurnit's Advertising Group. For more information about the program, visit the ANA's website.
Other Advertising Law Alerts
What the Advertising Industry Can Learn from Kim Kardashian’s Settlement with the SEC
On October 3, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it entered into a $1.26 million settlement with Kim Kardashian over her social media promotion of the EMAX token without disclosing payment she received from token issuer, EthereumMax. The matter provides important lessons for advertisers. Read more.
October 10 2022
Get Ready for California’s New “Automatic Renewal” Rules
California recently amended its Automatic Purchase Renewals law. The amended statute - effective July 1st -- require marketers to provide consumers of automatic renewal or continuous service offers with more information and easier ways to terminate. Read more.
June 22 2018
“Made in the U.S.A.” Claims Continue to be Scrutinized
In 2016, California amended Section 17533.7 of the California Business and Professions Code ("Section 17533"), liberalizing the standard for selling products labeled "Made in U.S.A" to California consumers. Read more.
June 4 2018
