Insurance companies know that sometimes accidents happen. They trust that their policyholders are upstanding members of society which is why they offer protection to those who earn it. A commercial general liability insurance policy not only offers protection for bodily injury and property damage claims, but it shields you from advertising injury lawsuits as well. If you are accused of libel, slander, copyright or trademark infringement, or invasion of privacy, your advertising injury coverage kicks in. This insurance will pay for your legal costs and any damages you might be held responsible for. Say your employee gets her hands on a copy of your competitor's customers' contact information and contacts them to convince them to switch to your business. When your competitor becomes aware of this, he could file a lawsuit claiming invasion of privacy. If you are clearly unaware of this violation, your advertising injury insurance will pay for your legal defense. However, don't expect your advertising injury insurance to help pay your costs if you are aware of her infringement.

Advertising Methods
In order to stay in the game business owners use advertising to get the word out. They come up with clever slogans and logos and use creative methods to grab the attention of potential customers. In doing so, however, sometimes they create advertising that looks exceptionally similar to their competitors'. If that business owner creates a trademark that is comparable to her competitor's registered trademark, she may be accused of trademark infringement and could possibly be taken to court. If she has advertising injury coverage, she will be financially covered if her competitor starts legal proceedings. Without advertising injury insurance, she could spend thousands of dollars on legal costs and damages.

Contract Omissions
Read your advertising injury insurance contract closely as there will be exclusions for your advertising injury coverage. For example, intentional distribution of false information, breach of contract and criminal acts are common exclusions on an advertising injury insurance policy. When you shop for commercial general liability insurance, ask what exclusions would be included on your advertising injury coverage as each company may have different terms. Searching for advertising injury insurance can take a lot of time if you're calling each office or dropping by their offices for information. Sales agents may bring about more pressure than you'd prefer, to boot. A free service like LocalInsurance can take away the pressure and provide you with plenty of quotes for business insurance plans containing advertising injury coverage. Take a little time to fill out an easy form and soon your business will have the advertising injury insurance you need.