Close
Contact us
Close

CFC Underwriting on being data led to accurately assess IP insurance risk

Share this page:

Maddi Brown is the Intellectual Property Practice Leader at CFC Underwriting Ltd, heading up the Intellectual Property Underwriting Team.  With 15 years of experience in Intellectual Property insurance, 7 of those years at CFC, she explains the huge changes the industry has experienced and how Cipher has helped to be data led to accurately assess IP insurance risk and bring it into the mainstream.

How has the Intellectual Property Insurance Industry changed?

When I started, traditional lines of insurance were always the key assets of most companies.  Most businesses would think about office insurance or professions insurance but now, the importance of intangible assets is top of mind. They’re what you are left with when you get up and leave your office. When you boil it down, the value to your business is really the people and the product – so how do you think about protecting those?

The market’s starting to open up and there are more providers for IP insurance, which some wouldn’t think is a good thing, but actually it is. The more competitors that we get in the market, the more people are talking about it, and that’s good all around. Our next challenge will be to make sure that the quality is still there as the market gets busier.

Thanks to Cipher, we can deliver to our clients a quick turnaround, a good service and an efficient service, pricing fairly and delivering premium levels that are palatable to them.

Maddi Brown, Intellectual Property Practice Leader, CFC Underwriting

How do you accurately assess Intellectual Property insurance risk, are you data led?

Before using Cipher it was difficult to truly assess the business. We were making so many more assumptions which means you have to put a weighting on the premium.  We didn’t have all the data we needed and data that we did have was not all in one place.

Historically, IP insurance premiums were exorbitantly high because of the manual, time consuming work that the underwriter did to assess an account and business to get to an end premium. Cipher now allows us access to all of that data in one area and see a reliable data-driven snapshot of the client quickly. That’s been a massive improvement. With Cipher is an additional layer of comfort to assessing a risk, because it gives you much more true data and quicker.

 

Cipher provides us a snapshot into the current position of the client and that adds real comfort into the exposure.

Maddi Brown, Intellectual Property Practice Leader, CFC Underwriting

How has Cipher helped to accurately assess Intellectual Property Insurance risk?

Cipher provides us a snapshot into current position of the client and that adds real comfort into the exposure. Cipher also adds historic data, as well as the ability to look at technology sectors and areas, so that we can then find out where the client sits.

Also Cipher provides us with dispute litigation data, which is really key to understanding the exposure and the risk for that client. Understanding the exposure by territory e.g. US and Global litigation data, is also really useful for us. The clarity of the data is what I find the most important thing with Cipher, how we can access it and use it, and get to that key information quickly.

How has Cipher data helped you increase confidence in the risk class?

Cipher has allowed us to give comfort in what we’re doing, why we’re presenting terms and why things are set at certain level.  It’s allowed us to add reassurance to the data, the way that we’re rating and the structure that we’re providing, and that that’s made a massive difference to who supports us.

Insights & Events

Intellectual Property Strategy

Having an Intellectual Property strategy is key for all growing organisations today
Read more

What is stalling the growth of the patent insurance market?

Rating IP insurance premiums requires an objective and reliable view of who own’s what patent assets and a good understanding of the litigation landscape
Read more

IP, the next cyber

The CFC 2019 Summit in Chicago focuses on how the nature of risk has changed
Read more

IP Corporate Strategy Summit 2020

10-11 September 2020 Hosted in partnership with ManagingIP, we returned for the fourth year running with a virtual event designed to address critical IP issues and help the IP Strategy community stay connected in this uncertain time.
Read more

What Return on Investment has Cipher given you?

Thanks to Cipher, we can actually turn quotes around in 24-48 hours. We can deliver to our clients a quick turnaround, a good service and an efficient service, pricing fairly and delivering premium levels that are palatable to them.  We are able to do that because we’ve got the support of the data from Cipher. So, risks that should be paying a higher premium, are paying a higher premium, and risks that should be paying a lower premium, are paying a lower premium.  This is a huge improvement on where the market used to be, where everybody just paid really high premiums.

Who uses Cipher at CFC?

The IP Team uses Cipher primarily, but it’s also used by our Transaction Liability Team. They love it, as it gives them a quick insight into businesses they’re looking at when they’re taking on intellectual property risk.  By having access to Cipher at CFC, we’re adding a lot of insight and confidence to our lines of business because we have the data.

Related Case studies

ARM on classifiers and managing patent budgets

Rob Calico, VP Litigation and IP, discusses the challenges of managing a sophisticated portfolio in a fast-moving technology environment, and how Cipher has helped them manage their patenting strategy and budgets.
Read more

Richardson Oliver Insights on the challenges of IP Teams

COO of Richardson Oliver Insights, Erik Oliver, talks about the challenges faced by IP teams with managing high value portfolios and the increased demand for both better data and better ways to communicate the value of patents.
Read more

Ocado on balancing IP protection with mitigation of patent risk and conflict

Head of IP, Lucy Wojcik, talks about the need instant answers to who’s doing what and how Cipher helped Ocado implement a world class IP strategy.
Read more

BAE Systems on the importance of competitive intelligence in disruptive technology environments

Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property and Technology Law, Dr. Bobby Mukherjee, explains how his IP team uses Cipher to help communicate the importance of IP internally and to navigate complex technology landscapes.
Read more

Red Hat on using the Cipher Optimisation Model

Jared Engstrom, Head of Patent Development, talks about the growth in Red Hat’s portfolio, how he has used Cipher’s custom classifiers and how the Cipher Optimisation model has improved their understanding of the competitive landscape.
Read more

Seagate on keeping up with technology changes

Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at Seagate, Bob Pechman explains the pressures of supporting the business during a period of rapid technological change and how Cipher helps see the patent landscape through Seagate’s own technology lens.
Read more

With Cipher you can…

Portfolio Optimisation connecting cogs

Optimise your portfolio

Ensure you have the right portfolio to meet your strategic patenting objectives.

Read more
Competitive Intelligence

Gather competitor intelligence

Understand who’s doing what by automating patent to technology mapping.

Read more
Cross Licensing

Model cross licensing

Combine patent and revenue data to determine rational licensing outcomes.

Read more

Manage your budget

Justify patent budgets and communicate the impact of your investment.

Read more

Conduct due diligence

Automate manual reviews for efficient execution of M&A and licensing transactions.

Read more

Tackle inbound patent assertion

Be prepared with evidence to create a fast and effective threat assessment.

Read more

Benchmark your portfolio

Assess your portfolio in comparison to other owners through your technology lens.

Read more

Monetise your portfolio

Identify opportunities to create value through licensing or sale of patent assets.

Read more
Technology Trends icon

Predict technology trends

Track new technologies and discover the unknown owners of future innovation.

Read more
Icon of a meter

Create Risk Mitigation Strategies

Understand the materiality of your threats to define your risk mitigation strategy.

Read more

Improve your patent strategy now

Speak to the Cipher team today.

Review Your Portfolio

Arrange a callback