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Michele Detherage

is an insurance coverage consultant and large loss litigator at Robins Kaplan LLP. As part of her practice, Michele routinely assesses coverage for claims involving intellectual property disputes.

For more information or to contact Michele, please visit her Firm Profile Page.

Recent Articles by Michele Detherage

Understanding Insurance Coverage for Intellectual Property Claims

Recent multi million-dollar jury verdicts on trade secret misappropriation claims reflect that there can be significant risk to companies when employees leave or joint development relationships dissolve. Coupled with the passage of the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, which created a federal civil cause of action for such claims, these verdicts have heightened the need to refine intellectual property protection strategies. But even with greater attention paid to improving protection measures, litigation can be inevitable, and such cases, as demonstrated by a recent survey conducted by the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), can be expensive. Companies should consider whether insurance coverage is available to cover litigation costs. In this article we examine a sampling of cases where coverage questions were raised in connection with intellectual property disputes and the differing outcomes which ensued.