Progressive Corp. has filed separate patent-infringement lawsuits against Hartford Financial Services and State Farm over usage-based auto insurance.
Like Progressive's “Pay As you Drive” program, the competing auto insurers also have products that obtain data on driving characteristics in order to determine a rating, the insurer claims in court filings in U.S. District Court in Ohio: Hartford has a program it calls “TrueLane”; State Farm calls its usage-based program “Drive Safe & Save.”
And like Progressive's program, the other insurers' onboard-telematics devices gather such information as mileage, speed, acceleration, time of day, trip duration and turns. The insurers' alleged infringement of Progressive's patent “will continue to cause damage and irreparable harm to Progressive until enjoined by the court,” says the Mayfield Village, Ohio-based insurer.
The carrier says it gave notice of the patent infringements to Hartford and State Farm, making the companies' alleged continued infringement “willful.”
The Hartford denies Progressive's allegations and intends to defend the lawsuit, says Hartford spokesman Thomas Hambrick.
Previously, Progressive sued Allstate and Liberty Mutual for patent infringement. The Allstate suit was settled, with Allstate agreeing to buy certain patent portfolios from the plaintiff.
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