Advertisers find a tool to defend themselves agains patent trolls

The Association of National Advertisers created a new product for their members, the ANA Patent Infringement Defense Patent, working with Scottsdale Insurance Company. The policy will protect advertisers and agencies from costly unfair patent claims.In the digital age, there are abundant patent trolls and ANA is a tool to combat them. “Patent trolls have been a growing issue for the advertising industry in recent years, costing advertisers and agencies millions of dollars in fees in order to avoid paying even more to defend themselves in court” said Bob Liodice, ANA’s CEO. The policy is exclusively for members of the Association, which will make no profit on the new product for this service. People can choose between two plans: one for US$500,000 and the other for US$1 million, which will cost US$10,000 and US$20,000 a year. The insurance covers certain legal fees, but not settlement costs, which are very popular in this environment.Agencies are also candidates for this insurance policy, since many times there is uncertainty regarding who should pay settlements or legal fees. Bill Duggan, executive VP at ANA, says that clients and agencies should consider some kind of shared liability.