When most of us think of advertising, we conjure up an image of the troubled yet brilliant Don Draper of "Mad Men" creating the perfect print or television ad to sell a client's product. The scope of what is considered advertising under a commercial general liability policy, however, can reach beyond what even Don Draper could imagine.
The Insurance Services Office's Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy provides coverage for personal and advertising injury liability. One of the exclusions to this coverage is for such injury that arises out of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, and other intellectual property infringement. The exclusion contains an exception for copyright, trade dress, or slogan infringement in the insured's advertisement.
"Advertisement" is a defined term in the policy, meaning "a notice that is broadcast or published to the general public or specific market segments about your goods, products or services for the purpose of attracting customers or supporters." Published notices include materials placed on the Internet and on the portion of websites that are about the insured's goods, products or services for the purposes of attracting customers or supporters.
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