THE EVOLUTION OF THE ADVERTISING INJURY EXCLUSION IN THE INSURANCE SERVICE OFFICE, INC.'S COMPREHENSIVE GENERAL LIABILITY INSURANCE POLICY FORMS

This article examines the issue of whether Comprehensive General Liability (CGL) insurance policy forms provide coverage for third party patent infringement claims under the forms' "advertising injury" provision. The paper traces the evolution of these Comprehensive General Liability forms, from the 1973 CGL standard forms through the 1986 forms and even up to the most recent set of revisions as reflected in the 1998 and 2001 CGL broad form versions. The article then discusses three leading cases on the issue, all of which stand for the proposition that insurers have a duty to defend policyholders against third party patent infringement claims when the insured was alleged to have infringed an advertising technique that was itself patented. In the aftermath of these decisions, however, changes were made to the CGL policy forms which are likely to benefit the insurer seeking to avoid coverage and further the trend towards increasingly limited policyholder coverage for third party patent infringement.