Manufacturing generally uses a number of proprietary processes that are developed by the company itself. For example, your business may have come up with a way of printing labels that is unique to your company or making metal fasteners in a specific way. These unique processes are what make your business different.
But what happens when someone steals these unique processes? No matter how your competitor becomes privy to the knowledge of your company’s intellectual property, it’s crucial to have the right insurance policies in place to protect your business.
Commercial General Liability Insurance
Your commercial general liability insurance policy covers a number of things, including what’s defined as “personal liability” even though you’re running a business. This means that things like copyright infringement and invasion of privacy are covered. Basically, if you catch another business using your proprietary manufacturing processes, you can sue them and file a claim under your commercial general liability policy to help pay for the legal fees. In addition, your policy might cover breach of contract, which will come in handy should you find that one of your previous employees violated their no compete clause and offered your company’s secrets to their new employer.
Directors and Officers Insurance
Although trade secrets aren’t often covered by directors’ and officers’ insurance policies, there are situations where this particular type of insurance can step in and help your business. For example, if one of the members of your board gave away confidential information that was labeled as such, you have cause to use your insurance policy to protect your manufacturing company while filing suit against the member of the board or company director who shared that privileged information.
Intellectual Property Insurance
Yes, there’s such a thing as intellectual property insurance. In order to protect your company’s proprietary processes, it’s a good idea to have this type of policy in place as well as the others, just in case. When your intellectual property ends up getting spread around and ends up in a competitor’s proverbial lap, your company could end up in trouble. Generally, intellectual property insurance comes in two parts. The first is liability, which kicks in when a competitor ends up with working knowledge of your business’ processes. The other, called enforcement coverage, pays for the legal fees required to prevent them from using your proprietary information.
Cyber Liability Coverage
In addition to helping develop new computer systems and pay for the public relations damage done by a hacker, cyber liability insurance may also fund a lawsuit should the hackers gain awareness of your proprietary information. This can prevent them from sharing that information with your competitors or simply hanging the information over your proverbial head for ransom purposes.
Have Questions? Contact Charlotte Insurance
Want to learn more about using insurance policies to protect your manufacturing company’s intellectual property? Contact Charlotte Insurance. Our agents can explore and explain all available options and put together the insurance coverage plan your business needs.