Insurance for trade secrets, such as patents, trademarks, and copyrights. What’s next? Now there’s a policy designed to protect against the theft of trade secrets. But some think you shouldn’t insure what can’t be quantified.
CNA Financial Corporation
CNA Financial Corp. introduced a trade secret policy last November because, “potential clients had expressed interest in covering intangible assets and the industry didn’t respond, because valuation was a difficult thing to nail down,” says vice president Michael McCarthy.
The notion already has its critics. “Even though you can document trade secret theft, there is still no way you can ever actually protect your company from it,” reports Rick Lawlor, senior analyst at World Research Advisory. “No company right now can value the intangible of a trade secret, so how can an insurance company attempt to put down a policy?” he says.
