The basic function of insurance is to transfer risks to the insurer. Once an accidental loss occurs, the insurer will compensate the insured for the loss. Patent insurance is used to cover litigation expenses incurred in order to defend one's own patent rights or to defend against alleged infringement of other people's patent rights.
As a kind of intangible property, patents meet the conditions of the insurance subject matter, and the policy holder has an insurable interest in the insurance subject matter. The specific manifestations are:
(1) Patent risk is an insurable risk
1. Patent infringement risk is a pure risk, because if an individual or enterprise suffers a loss, society as a whole will also suffer the same. Loss does not occur when a person or a company suffers a loss. Others may make a profit, but there may not necessarily be a loss for the entire society.
2. The insurance party cannot know in advance whether a patent will be infringed, nor can it know the time and extent of the losses caused by the infringement, so there is uncertainty.
3. Due to the characteristics of intangibility, territoriality and reproducibility of patents, any use without the permission of the patentee, authorizer or implementation obligor without legal basis, without authorization and hindering the normal exercise of rights Behavior happens from time to time, and if it is not protected properly, there is a possibility that its patents will suffer losses.
4. The expected benefits during the term of the insurance contract can be estimated. During its validity period, a patent can be invested, pledged, owned, and transferred like tangible property. From this perspective, it has objective economic benefits like tangible property, has monetary value, and can be estimated.
(2) Patent meets the conditions of insurance subject matter
When a patent is infringed by a third party and its value is damaged, its insurance subject matter is reflected as property interest; when potential infringement If a person infringes upon the rights of the patentee, he shall be liable for compensation. At this time, the subject matter of insurance is represented as civil tort liability.
(3) In patent insurance, the policy holder has an insurable interest in the subject matter insured
The insurable interest of the patentee is an interest permitted by law, that is, a legitimate interest. Patent rights have economically certain interests. The insured has an objective or factual interest in the patent he owns. The insurance interest in patent enforcement insurance is the damage that the patent rights may suffer, while for patent infringement liability insurance The insurance interest liability in "Insurance Interest Liability" is "an interest relationship between the insured and his legal liability", which is a kind of negative expectation interest.