Evolving Intellectual Property Opportunities, Exposures, and Coverage Issues
Intangible assets now exceed the value of tangible assets in many Fortune 1000 organizations, as well as small and medium-sized private entities.[1] One of the largest and fastest-growing intangible asset classes is intellectual property (IP).[2] With the growth of IP assets, IP litigation is frequently in the spotlight. Recent IP litigation includes a $440 million patent troll verdict against Apple, upheld in 2019, related to secure communications over the internet,[3] and Cox Communications was hit with a $1 billion copyright verdict on December 19, 2019, in a lawsuit alleging that it allowed its internet subscribers to illegally download music.[4] On November 19, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Google v. Oracle,[5] dubbed Silicon Valley’s “Lawsuit of the Decade,” which addresses Oracle’s demand for $9 billion in connection with (1) whether copyright protection extends to a software interface and (2) whether, as the trial court jury found, the petitioner’s use of a software interface in the context of creating a new computer program constitutes fair use.