Intellectual property plaintiffs who manage to win large monetary awards, colloquially dubbed as “nuclear verdicts,” traditionally had no choice but to endure an often lengthy and uncertain appellate process. The final payout was always an unknown variable, with the actual award potentially being diminished or even completely wiped out upon appeal.
However, recent developments in the insurance sector are providing an innovative solution to this uncertainty. A relatively new breed of insurance policy now allows winners of these substantial IP judgments to insure part or whole of their initial award amount. With these policies, even if the award gets reduced during the appeals process, plaintiffs are able to ensure they don’t walk away empty-handed.
These ground-breaking insurance policies are effectively doing away with the inherent risk that court cases ordinarily come with. While providing a measure of security to IP plaintiffs, they also hold the potential to reshape strategies on both sides of these high-stakes legal battles.
More insight into how these insurance options play out and are impacting the legal landscape in the practice of intellectual property law can be found here.