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Intellectual Property Insurance in Kentucky

Kentucky defines a trade secret by its economic value from secrecy and reasonable secrecy efforts, and its statute expressly allows courts to order protective measures in trade-secret cases, including discovery protections, in-camera hearings, and sealed records. If your company handles source code, product plans, or customer data, document who can access it and ask how the policy treats defense costs and confidentiality disputes during litigation. 1,2

What Is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property insurance comes in two separate parts: defense, when you're accused of infringing a patent, trademark or copyright, and enforcement, when you pursue someone who copied yours. A defense-only quote doesn't pay for your own lawsuit, so ask for each part you need. Read the national Intellectual property guide.

What to Watch for in Kentucky

  • Show How Your Information Stays Secret

    KRS 365.880 requires a secret to derive economic value from not being generally known or readily ascertainable and to be subject to reasonable efforts to preserve secrecy. Keep access lists, confidentiality agreements, and repository controls for software, methods, and customer compilations; these facts matter to the statutory claim, not automatically to policy coverage. 1

  • Ask About Secrecy Protections In Litigation

    KRS 365.888 directs courts to preserve alleged trade-secret secrecy by reasonable means, including protective discovery orders, in-camera hearings, sealing, and nondisclosure orders. Ask whether defense costs for handling protected technical material fall inside or outside the limit and how insurer-appointed counsel works with confidentiality orders. 2

  • Separate Injunction And Royalty Exposure

    Kentucky allows injunctions for actual or threatened misappropriation and, in exceptional circumstances, a reasonable royalty instead of prohibiting future use; it may also compel affirmative acts to protect a secret. Ask about defense of injunction requests and the policy’s treatment of court-ordered remediation, without assuming either is covered. 3

Who Regulates Insurance in Kentucky

Kentucky Department of Insurance

The Kentucky Department of Insurance licenses agents and insurers, monitors the insurance market, and accepts complaints about insurance companies and agents. You can use its state lookup or complaint service to check a license or raise an insurance issue. 4,5,6

Surplus-lines tax and stamping office

Reported tax rate: 3% on Kentucky-home-state premiums and other premium consideration; separate 1.8% surcharge on eligible risks located in Kentucky, subject to statutory exceptions; applicable local-government premium tax may also apply When Kentucky is the insured's home state, the state tax is 3% of premium and other consideration treated as premium; local-government premium taxes may also apply. A separate 1.8% surcharge generally applies to Kentucky risks, but state law exempts multistate nonadmitted risks and specified government and nonprofit premiums. The broker must make a diligent effort to place coverage with an admitted carrier before using surplus lines. 7,10,8,9,11

Providers With Documented State Licenses

No provider in Spot’s research documents both a state license record and this coverage line. This does not establish that providers are unlicensed. Check the regulator’s license lookup and confirm availability with a provider when requesting a quote.

Questions to Ask Before You Buy in Kentucky

  1. What evidence shows that each Kentucky source-code, process, or customer-data asset has economic value from secrecy and reasonable access controls?
  2. How are legal expenses for discovery protective orders and in-camera proceedings treated against the proposed limit?
  3. Does the policy respond to defense of a trade-secret injunction or court-ordered protective acts, and what policy wording controls?

Intellectual Property in Kentucky: FAQ

What is a trade secret under Kentucky law? 1

It is information with independent economic value from not being generally known or readily ascertainable that is subject to reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy. 1

Can a Kentucky court seal records in a trade-secret case? 2

Yes. KRS 365.888 says the court must preserve secrecy by reasonable means, which may include protective discovery orders, in-camera hearings, sealed records, and nondisclosure orders. 2

Intellectual Property in Other States

Other Coverage in Kentucky

Sources

  1. KRS 365.880, Definitions. Kentucky Legislative Research Commission; Subsection (4), trade-secret definition; online statutory database updated through 2026 Regular Session. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  2. KRS 365.888, Preservation of Secrecy. Kentucky Legislative Research Commission; Court-protection rule for actions under KRS 365.880-.900; effective July 13, 1990. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  3. KRS 365.882, Injunctive Relief. Kentucky Legislative Research Commission; Subsections (1)-(3), injunctions, exceptional royalties, and compelled protective acts; effective July 13, 1990. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  4. Kentucky Department of Insurance. Kentucky Department of Insurance; Homepage and consumer telephone. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  5. Insurance License Lookup. Kentucky Department of Insurance; State-designated producer/company search. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  6. File an Insurance Complaint. Kentucky Department of Insurance; Official DOI consumer complaint page accepts complaints involving general liability and disputes with insurers, agents or adjusters. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  7. KRS 304.10-180. Kentucky General Assembly; KRS 304.10-180(1): Kentucky-home-state; 3% applies to premiums, assessments, fees, charges or other premium consideration; local premium tax is separate. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  8. Local Government Premium Taxes. Kentucky Department of Insurance; Current local tax schedules. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  9. KRS 304.10-090. Kentucky General Assembly; KRS 304.10-090 requires policy notice that nonadmitted insurer is not a Kentucky Insurance Guaranty Association member and its benefits are unavailable upon insolvency. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  10. KRS 136.392. Kentucky General Assembly; KRS 136.392(1),(5)-(6): $1.80 per $100 on premium/other charges for Kentucky risks; named government/nonprofit exceptions; multistate nonadmitted risks exempt. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  11. Surplus Lines. Kentucky Department of Insurance; Full page states licensed surplus-lines brokers must make a diligent effort to place with an admitted carrier before exporting coverage. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  12. Licenses. At-Bay; Current producer introduction and state table; At-Bay Insurance Services LLC; P&C and surplus-lines identifiers. Accessed 2026-09-21.
  13. Licenses and Carriers. Coalition; Licenses and Carriers, re-read 22 September 2026: Insurance Licenses table for Coalition Insurance Solutions, Inc., national producer number 18419475, with producer and surplus-lines numbers for all 50 states and DC including California 0L76155, Georgia 196479, Texas 2199630 and 2205589, Pennsylvania 815731 and 817452, Colorado 539028 and Wisconsin 3000108852. Insurance Carriers table naming, with NAIC numbers, Allianz Underwriters Insurance Company 36420, Arch Specialty Insurance Company 21199, Ascot Specialty Insurance Company 45055, Ascot Insurance Company 23752, Aspen Specialty Insurance Company 10717, Chaucer Insurance Company DAC, Coalition Insurance Company 29530, Fireman's Fund Indemnity Corporation 11380, Fortegra Specialty Insurance Company 16823, Lloyd's of London, MSIG Specialty Insurance USA Inc. 34886, MS Transverse Specialty Insurance Company 41807, Steadfast Insurance Company 26387, Vantage Risk Specialty Insurance Company 16275 and Zurich American Insurance Company 16535. Accessed 2026-09-22.
  14. Insurance Producer Licenses. Corgi Insurance; Current complete Insurance Producer Licenses table for Corgi Insurance Services, Inc.; 50 rows covering 49 states and DC (DC 3003091619); no New Mexico row; no NPN or as-of date shown. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  15. About Hiscox US Insurance. Hiscox; Hiscox Insurance Company Inc. NAIC 10200 as Chicago, IL domiciled insurer admitted or licensed in all 50 states and D.C.; Hiscox Inc. as general agent and Lloyd’s coverholder for Syndicates 33 and 3624; surplus-lines placements through licensed surplus-lines brokers; A.M. Best rating statement. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  16. Licenses. ERGO NEXT Insurance; Current entity-by-state license table reopened 28 September 2026: 50 rows under Next First Insurance Agency, Inc., including Washington, DC; New York rows instead list Next Insurance Services PC-1423070 and AP Intego BR-1198885. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  17. Insurance Licenses by State. TechInsurance; Current state table; identifies TechInsurance as a division of Specialty Program Group LLC d/b/a SPG Insurance Solutions; lists DC 3000041536 and labels Rhode Island “Individual licenses,” without an agency license number. Accessed 2026-09-28.
  18. Licenses. Vouch; Effective 16 January 2025: Vouch Specialty Insurance Services, LLC, NPN 19926463; P&C table (50 states and DC); surplus-lines table includes Idaho 870820; footnote says Georgia and Idaho do not issue agency-level surplus-lines licenses; Idaho retained as producer-only due to conflict. Accessed 2026-09-15.

Updated .

This guide is informational and does not determine whether a policy is available or meets your needs. Editorial policy. To suggest a correction, contact Spot with a supporting source.

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