Art Neill, Founder and Executive Director here at New Media Rights, began writing as a guest contributor for Forbes this past May, covering a variety of legal issues for creative professionals and small businesses. His articles have been chosen as Editor’s Pick three times since then!
This week’s post is all about Errors & Omissions insurance. Errors & Omissions (E&O) insurance is one safety net (among others) that a small business should consider to protect its assets. “Essentially, an E&O insurance policy will back you up when you make a mistake or an error.” Sometimes, even small mistakes can be costly, so it is important to understand the unique protections of Errors and Omissions insurance - especially if you have a business in the technology or media fields.
“Even if your particular industry doesn’t require E&O insurance, it may still be worth considering purchasing. For example, if you provide a service or software that your clients rely on heavily to do business or manage data, or if you produce any kind of creative work that reuses someone else’s content, then you will want to consider purchasing E&O insurance.”
The article also lays out some key differences between E&O insurance and General Liability insurance, and breaks down some of the different policies that are commonly available. For instance, one policy that the article discusses is Producer’s E&O insurance, which “protects a piece of media from claims of copyright infringement, libel, slander, and plagiarism (among other things).” We’ve often worked with filmmakers who need this type of insurance policy in place before they can distribute their films using large platforms or distribution companies. For filmmakers, this can be an important protection to have in case a claim is brought against their film.
You can read “Errors & Omissions Insurance: A Safety Net For Your Business” at Forbes.com. Check out other Forbes articles from New Media Rights here, including articles on topics like copyright, trademark, trade secrets, patents, music licenses, and navigating a lawsuit (part 1 and 2).
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