Insurers Preemptively Sue Patent Monetizer After Demand Letters

A trio of insurance companies filed separate declaratory judgment actions to try to head off lawsuits by Intellectual Ventures over the company’s allegedly patent-infringing use of open-source software.

The actions are the latest shoe to drop in a multi-year campaign by IV to secure license payments across the insurance industry based on the prolific patent monetization company’s portfolio of thousands of patents. Each plaintiff — Travelers Indemnity Co., Hartford Fire Insurance Co., and the Hanover Insurance Group Inc. — said they’d been contacted in March or April by IV’s outside counsel at Kasowitz and threatened with litigation if they ...