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How Well Does General Liability Insurance Protect Online Businesses?
Which Are The Most Common Internet Liabilities? Traditionally, many of the risks connected with an online business presence were tied to intellectual property law. Unfortunately, as internet commerce becomes more sophisticated, new internet legislation is introduced, and a greater variety of businesses rely on the world wide web as their primary medium for communication, a wider assortment of new liabilities must be considered by insurance companies. Intellectual Property Right Infringement The advertising injury coverage contained in traditional general liability insurance policies does protect against intellectual property violation, libel, and slander lawsuits, but the way these liabilities are defined is a little different in internet law. As a result, quite a few business owners have found out the difficult way that their company's existing policy failed to include the kinds of common liabilities found on the internet. For example, infringement on the web can range from a genuine misstep like including someone else's trademarked name in the site's meta-tags, to unknowingly using a trademarked graphic on one of your webpages. It is highly unlikely that a normal CGL (Commercial General Liability Insurance) policy would cover against these types of claims. Libel and Slander Just like IP infringement, ordinary CGL plans do include advertising injury coverage from slander and libel. However, internet law again defines these aspects of defamation so that claims coming from the online world are often not covered. Furthermore, this part of internet law is changing rapidly and may be dramatically different depending on your location. Case in point, internet defamation claims based on company websites that include unfavorable reviews of a competitor's products have usually been thrown out by U.S. courts, but an internet blogger in Taiwan was found liable for defamation in June 2011 after writing that the cuisine was "too salty" in a nearby restaurant. Privacy Issues The kind of internet privacy invasion that most-typically lands in court happens when a person's personal information is either distributed without their permission, or outright stolen. Due to the legally ambiguous circumstances where this sort of activity usually occurs in an online setting, however, this poorly-defined area of internet law is normally omitted from standard business liability coverage. Knowing local internet laws is essential where privacy matters are concerned as well. For instance, some online marketers have found themselves involved with lawsuits after distributing unsolicited e-mails because they did not know that their local legislature had passed an anti-spamming law. Transmitting of Viruses, Hacking, and Denial of Service Intrusions Assaults by hackers on your business internet site, or unintentionally sending out harmful computer viruses to customers and associates can bring your online business to a halt in only minutes. Although these specific internet threats carry very real repercussions for damage and loss claims by or against your business, they are rarely covered in any sort of comprehensive fashion by average general liability plans. Rounding Out Your CGL with Cyber Liability Insurance Even though cyber liability is a new form of insurance, a lot of providers offer it as an augmentation to your general liability insurance policy. This internet-specific type of coverage is written to clearly provide protection against the types of online lawsuits described in this article, and cover any expenses arising from losses, damages, and legal fees. No matter whether your business has a heavy online presence, or a modest one, the truth of the Internet Age is that you have to safeguard it with some kind of cyber liability coverage. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Darin Mendanor is a veteran of the insurance industry who has specialized in liability insurance for small business for over 15 years. Look for future articles from Darin covering other important aspects of general liability insurance and how it affects your business venture. |
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