<P> New assurance products can now be protected from copying with a business method patent in the United States . </P> <P> A recent example of a new insurance product that is patented is Usage Based auto insurance . Early versions were independently invented and patented by a major US auto insurance company, Progressive Auto Insurance (U.S. Patent 5,797,134) and a Spanish independent inventor, Salvador Minguijon Perez (EP 0700009). </P> <P> Many independent inventors are in favor of patenting new insurance products since it gives them protection from big companies when they bring their new insurance products to market . Independent inventors account for 70% of the new U.S. patent applications in this area . </P> <P> Many insurance executives are opposed to patenting insurance products because it creates a new risk for them . The Hartford insurance company, for example, recently had to pay $80 million to an independent inventor, Bancorp Services, in order to settle a patent infringement and theft of trade secret lawsuit for a type of corporate owned life insurance product invented and patented by Bancorp . </P>

Presentation of data and information of types of insurance