Professional Indemnity: Insured Risks

Professional Indemnity Insurance for Digital Professions is based on the principle of blanket coverage for your profession. That means all liability risks of a freelancer or company in the areas of IT, media, consulting and services are insured, unless they are mentioned in the exclusions. It is not necessary to list the insured risks (a so-called coverage catalogue) as is the case with conventional general liability insurance.

This has enormous advantages: Changing areas of activity and risks, which occur again and again, especially in project-based work, are covered by the insurance. The risks listed below are therefore only examples:

1. Insured Third-party Risks (e.g. Claims by Clients)

• Damage caused by incorrect programming, IT consulting, organisation or training
• Compensation for unsuccessful installation (e.g. implementation and integration damage) of your manufactured or delivered software
• Damage that occurs before the client has released or accepted the service
• Damage caused by insufficiently tested products and services
• Damage caused by incorrect data acquisition, data processing and storage
• Damage caused by poorly or incompletely executed orders, so-called consequential damages (no exclusion for compensation instead of performance!)
• Compensation for non-performance of a contractual obligation
• Compensation for negligence in contract negotiations
• Compensation for late delivery or service (exceeding the deadline)
• Damage caused by business interruptions suffered by your customers
• Damage caused by lost sales or profits suffered by your customers
• Unsuccessful expenditures or investments by your customers in anticipation of proper performance
• Damage due to no-fault deviations from the agreed quality (e.g. within the framework of service level agreements)
• Damage caused by the violation of copyrights, license rights, domain rights, trademark rights, naming rights and personal rights as well as data protection laws (also in the USA/Canada)
• Damage due to infringement of patent rights
• Warnings and claims for damages due to publications for own products and services (e.g. incorrect legal notice or product description)
• Claims due to privacy violations, breaches of confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements as well as unfair competition and unfair advertising
• Contractual penalties due to the breach of confidentiality obligations or data protection agreements
• Poor execution by your subcontractors
• Compensation for damages as a result of data theft and information piracy by third parties
• Negligent transmission of viruses and other malware
• Damage related to web design, web hosting, internet providing

2. First-party Claims Covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance

• Costs of an external PR consultant in the event of imminent or already occurred reputational damage due to a damage event
• First-party damage caused by changing or blocking of your own website (e.g. hacking damage)
• Costs for the replacement of lost, own written or electronic documents for order processing
• Costs for loss of your own domain caused by a third party (domain legal protection)

3. Risks that can be Optionally Covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance

• First-party Cyber and Data Risks Insurance (FPC)

First-party claims in connection with hacking, DoS attacks, Cyber extortion, computer misuse, theft of data carriers or devices as well as any other violation of data rights. (First-Party Cyber and Data Risks Insurance)

• Engineering activities (ENG)

Damage caused by faulty engineering services in hardware and software development in the field of machines and plants, embedded software, machine and plant testing, support for the commissioning process, technical drawings and design (CAD, CAM), technical management consultancy (in particular purchasing, strategy, process design) and activities as a technical expert. (Engineering Activities)