Marsh Launches Comprehensive Intellectual Property Insurance Solution

NEW YORK, Feb. 28 -- Marsh, a subsidiary of Marsh and McLennan Companies, issued the following news release:

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- IP Protect Provides Robust Defense Coverage

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Marsh, a global leader in insurance broking and innovative risk management solutions, today launches IP Protect, a new, comprehensive and cost-effective insurance solution specifically tailored to address organizations' intellectual property (IP) risks.

A proprietary Marsh policy, IP Protect is backed by Ambridge Partners, a leading managing general underwriter of transactional, complex management liability, and intellectual property insurance products. IP Protect goes beyond current insurance offerings to provide broad defense coverage for losses relating to patents, copyrights, trademarks, and, by endorsement, trade secrets. More than $60 million in primary coverage is available from Ambridge, with additional capacity available from excess liability insurers.

"As the importance of IP rights and their related expenditures continue to rise, many organizations have sought an effective solution to protect their IP assets, products, and services, only to find inadequate coverage at a high cost," said Jason Sandler, a Vice President in Marsh's US Financial and Professional Practice. "With IP Protect, we now are able to provide clients with the broad coverage and meaningful limits they have been seeking -- at a more affordable price."

IP Protect covers:

* The costs of defending against third-party attempts to cancel or invalidate an insured's registered IP.

* Defense costs and damages resulting from IP infringement claims brought by third parties.

* The insured's contractual obligations to indemnify its downstream customers against third-party infringement claims.

Other unique features of IP Protect include a streamlined underwriting process and the ability of insureds to select their defense counsel.

IP Protect is initially available to companies looking to protect US operations with under $2 billion in annual revenue or larger organizations looking to insure specific US assets, subsidiaries, divisions, business units, or product or service lines.

"By working with Marsh and investing in our own IP underwriting expertise, we are pleased to be able to support our clients in their innovation and growth endeavors by lending strength and stability to their IP asset portfolios," said Jeff Cowhey, President and co-founder of Ambridge Partners.