A Shield and a Sword: When IP and Insurance Combine
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WIPR January/February 2019 26 IP and technology: insurtech www.worldipreview.com A shield and a sword: when IP and insurance combine You may not think of IP and insurance as being bedfellows, but their relationship is closer than it might appear, as WIPR reports. raditionally regarded as slow-moving and reluctant to use new technologies, T the insurance industry is now gearing up for change. As disruptors move into the marketplace and technologies develop at breakneck speed, the industry has realised that innovation is the key to survival. While insurers and brokers are quite innovative, they are more cautious than other fi nancial sectors about publicly embracing technologies with unproven track records, says Alexander Urbelis, partner at Blackstone Law Group in New York. The presence “By contrast, the fi nancial sector is expected to move of a patent is at the pace of a great white shark, always hunting and likely to deter Cooke states that the embrace of innovation, moving in search of the most fertile feeding grounds. egregious would- coupled with an adoption of technology, is essential for To stick with the marine biology metaphor, insurance be infringers. insurers to establish or enhance their position within companies are expected to operate with a speed more an increasingly competitive and dynamic marketplace. akin to that of a blue whale,” he claims. He adds: “The protection of the IP that supports Below the calm surface, however, is a rip tide of this innovative activity is also essential for insurers to activity, with insurers and brokers testing, investigating Alexander Urbelis, maintain their hard-won market position and to stay and innovating, although, given the nature of the Blackstone Law Group ahead of potential competitors in the marketplace.” industry, they keep quiet about the innovation until Through the adoption of technology, the industry tangible results are possible, Urbelis says. He warns can increase customer engagement with existing that this may delay the patent application process, insurance products through mobile platforms and causing insurers to appear as though they are trailing boost its competitive advantage by generating and behind other industries. Fact fi le delivering new and improved products to customers, James Cooke, special counsel at Duane Morris notes Cooke. Number of insurance- in Washington, DC agrees. He notes that previously, related patents fi led many insurers and brokers embraced traditional worldwide: Importance of IP underwriting processes and personal broker-to- Urbelis looks at the importance of IP from two different • 2017: 917 customer interaction. This embrace likely contributed viewpoints. First, he says, from a PR perspective, patent to a delay in transitioning to automated processing • 2016: 657 protection provides a public indication that a company and mobile engagement, when compared to the Of the 917 patents fi led is an innovator and has developed ideas worthy of transition from branch to mobile banking across the in 2017: protection. This increases the value and perception fi nancial services industry. • 199 related to pricing of these carriers to their insured parties, shareholders, But, according to Cooke, a transformation is now • 100 related to and the public. well under way. machine learning “From a practical perspective, securing patents “Insurers and brokers still enjoy signifi cant for the innovative methodologies or algorithms of • 78 related to opportunities to foster innovative activity within their telematics assessing risk is a practical way to secure a company’s organisations and, with the assistance of counsel, to investment in that innovation,” he explains. This is • 62 related to develop robust IP programmes that protect innovative peer-to-peer all the more important for insurers that may be solutions to problems faced within the insurance According to a November 2018 publicly touting their novel ways of using technology industry,” he says. report by RPC and data. WIPR January/February 2019 www.worldipreview.com IP and technology: insurtech 27 ISTOCK PHOTO / MASSONSTOCK PHOTO ISTOCK “The presence of a patent is likely to deter egregious companies have sought to protect their investment would-be infringers and forces competitors seeking through the patenting process,” he advises. similar innovations to employ differing and often less US insurers Allstate Insurance and State Farm led effi cient methodologies,” says Urbelis. the way in 2017, fi ling 35 and 34 insurance patents Patenting activity is on the rise. In 2016, 657 respectively, according to RPC. They were followed by insurance-related patents were fi led worldwide, another US fi rm, Hartford Fire Insurance Company, according to a report from London-headquartered with 26 patents, and China-based Ping An, which fi led professional services fi rm RPC in November 2018. 23 patents. One year on, 917 insurance-related patents were fi led, Outside of traditional insurers, other active fi lers with telematics, artifi cial intelligence (AI) and machine include China e-commerce company Alibaba, which learning, and peer-to-peer (P2P) insurance among the fi led eight patents last year. top patent trends. Over the past According to Cooke: “These traditional insurers, The 40% jump in patent fi ling year on year comes as 40 years the along with tech giants such as Alibaba, possess investment in insurtech is being stepped up, said RPC. world economy certain structural and fi nancial advantages crucial to In the report, RPC said that insurance patent fi lings has shifted developing and implementing robust programmes for globally per annum have jumped by 116% over fi ve dramatically identifying and protecting IP, supporting insurtech years, from just 435 in 2013. from one based innovation, especially on a large scale and across What is driving this surge? The answer is simple: on tangible multiple jurisdictions.” data, says Urbelis. He adds: “If the heart of insurance assets to a Urbelis notes that the bigger players are active in is underwriting, then the lifeblood of the insurance more intangible the protection of fl agship products and data analytics, industry is—and always has been—data.” ‘knowledge- especially with regard to the acquisition and use of With the amount of data available to underwriters based’ economy. driving-related data. increasing signifi cantly over the past decade (“think of Cooke adds: “The patent portfolios of many driving sensors, internet of things devices, telematics, big players in the insurance industry are often digital health, social media, data brokers, and drones”, quite diverse, and can include pending applications says Urbelis), the algorithms for and methodologies of Ian Lewis, Tokio Marine Kiln and issued patents directed to many discrete or interpreting, modelling, and assessing risk from these linked technologies, such as novel pricing or policy- new repositories of data have evolved. selection algorithms.” “That evolution required signifi cant investment, This doesn’t mean that startups are not enjoying and therefore it is no surprise that many insurance their slice of the pie. For Cooke, startups represent WIPR January/February 2019 28 IP and technology: insurtech www.worldipreview.com an important engine of innovation within the Protecting your protection insurance industry and he expects the role played by It is from those with such an attitude that IP these companies only to increase in time, especially insurance is looking to protect companies. given increasing collaborations with traditional “Over the past 40 years the world economy has insurers, such as through regulatory sandboxes, which 40% shifted dramatically from one based on tangible allow companies to test innovative propositions in assets to a more intangible ‘knowledge-based’ the market. economy,” says Ian Lewis, IP underwriter at insurer Urbelis and Cooke agree that the patent portfolios Tokio Marine Kiln in London. held by startups in the insurtech marketplace are often annual rise in He adds: “Recognition of in-house IP more limited in scope or number. insurance-related professionals is definitely higher and one could say Cooke states that startups’ patent applications patents filed that IP has moved on from being the domain of and patents are often directed to innovative, technical worldwide----from 657 ‘middle-aged bald men in white lab coats’ to that of solutions to specific problems faced by insurers and in 2016 to 917 the ‘modern professionals in senior management/board brokers. Urbelis adds that “as smaller fish in a large following year roles’.” pond”, they generally seek patents in their core areas Lewis says that as businesses look to insurance of competence. to support their trading exposures, such as product It’s unsurprising that startups are active in the liability and business interruption, the need for IP patent space, because IP protection is one of the insurance has grown dramatically. primary methods of increasing and demonstrating IP risk exposures, especially patent and trade value in a small business, adds Urbelis. secret-related, have been excluded from many forms “Moreover, while patent filings certainly signal of policy for a host of reasons, says Lewis, including a the technologies in which insurers and brokers have general lack of understanding of IP rights per se and been investing, I believe that a great deal of insurtech the substantial cost of litigation in these specialised innovation is being held internally as trade secrets, areas of law. away from prying eyes of foreign and domestic “Some might say that patent litigation is a sport companies who may have a ‘devil-may-care’ attitude to for kings, due to the high costs. It is not uncommon patents,” adds Urbelis. for legal defence costs to be greater (by multiples) Insurtech startups provide their views on protecting their IP and insurance Erik Abrahamsson is founder and CEO of Digital depended on the amount of technology we have Fineprint, a London-based startup that uses sought to protect, but so far it has not been a big predictive analytics and AI to turn open data into distraction for us.