Errors and Omissions Insurance
From ForcaWiki, the simple encyclopedia
| In one sentence | Insurance that protects a movie against lawsuits claiming it stole someone else's copyright, trademark, or reputation. |
|---|---|
| Category | Film and Television |
| Related | Chain of Title, Completion Bond |
Imagine building and selling a treehouse kit, and worrying that someone might later claim you copied their design, or that you accidentally used their family name on it without asking. Insurance that specifically covered claims like that would let you sell the kit with a lot more confidence.
Errors and omissions insurance, almost always shortened to E&O insurance, does exactly that for a movie. It insures against claims made by outside people or companies relating to how the film is used, things like copyright disputes, defamation, meaning damaging someone's reputation, or trademark claims.
Fun facts
- Distributors and financiers typically will not touch a movie without E&O insurance already in place, alongside a clean Chain of Title.
- E&O insurance will usually not be sold at all unless the movie's chain of title is already complete and clean, since a messy ownership trail makes a lawsuit far more likely.
- E&O insurance is separate from a Completion Bond, which protects against the movie simply never getting finished, rather than against being sued once it exists.