Insurance and the Intrepid Inventor

Inventors who bring their own product to market should consider, among other insurance issues, both product liability insurance and patent infringement insurance. Product liability insurance covers liability for claims for injury caused by the new product. Patent infringement insurance comes in two flavors, offense and defense. Insurance exists for infringement offense to cover the cost of bringing a suit in the event someone infringes on the inventor’s patent. Conversely, insurance exists for infringement defense for claims that the entrepreneur infringes someone else’s patent. None of these types of “invention” insurance come cheap, so it is important to find out the premiums on these when writing the business plan.