InsurTech
For almost twenty years, the firm has advised on platforms and software for the management of insurance policy portfolios, in both the life and non-life sectors, including claims management. In this IT segment of the banking and insurance industry, the firm’s assistance covers the entire technology life cycle: from development agreements and the acquisition of rights by the software vendor from programmers, to the licence and maintenance agreements entered into down the chain with insurance companies and with banks, which today also play a central role as points of sale for insurance products.
The firm has followed the evolution of this market and of its platforms, including the early distinctions between back-end and front-end and the evolution over time of the different ways in which systems are delivered. In an initial phase, software was in fact supplied and licensed mainly in object code, and installed on the client’s own infrastructure, with on-site support and maintenance delivered through resources often provided on a secondment basis. Licensees subsequently sought greater autonomy by requesting access to source code, giving rise to issues concerning source code escrow, NDAs, limits on the use of the code and of access rights, the protection of intellectual property, ownership of enhancements and derivative works, maintenance levels entrusted to third parties, and safeguards protecting intellectual property where source code is accessed by operators other than the owner of the platform itself. The market then moved towards SaaS (Software as a Service) models, in which the software no longer resides on the client’s premises but on third-party infrastructure, and is delivered remotely and maintained and customised on dedicated portions of the system. The firm has also dealt extensively with the sensitive issues connected with migration from one platform to another, including contractual clauses that hinder a smooth transition, also in light of the Data Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854).
On all these fronts, the firm provides advisory services, assistance in contract drafting and negotiation and, where necessary, litigation. As regards litigation, extensive use has been made of ex parte search and inspection orders against competitors or unauthorised users, with a very high success rate. A new area of focus is now artificial intelligence and the way in which it can be implemented in this industry. Alongside the protection of assets lies the question of their distribution: the firm acts for both software vendors and users, providing highly specialised advice.
Significant experience
- The firm has assisted for almost twenty years a leading software vendor in the insurtech sector, following the evolution of its platforms, also registering the related IP rights, and guiding the company’s growth. LGV has supported the company in the development of its negotiating and contractual models in relation to the types of services provided, achieving, among other results, a significant series of successes in litigation for the protection of this operator’s intangible assets.
- The firm assisted a major insurance group in negotiating new terms for the use of the licence of a widely used market platform, whose terms of use risked paralysing the insurer’s operations and were not in line with the regulations then in force, which could be described as a forerunner of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 (DORA), a much later instrument than the firm’s pioneering work in this area. The terms were also at odds with regulated-market rules requiring that business continuity not be put at risk. The negotiation was a major one and achieved highly significant outcomes.
- The firm also assisted another major insurance group in redefining its agreements with the relevant software vendor and in restructuring the models for the use of a well-known platform widely used on the Italian market.
- The firm has further assisted various parties in setting up companies and joint ventures for the creation of new products and market solutions, also acting as adviser on the corporate and commercial aspects of the initiative.
- The firm has also worked with leading industry players, including insurers, on the preparatory negotiating documents for joint ventures that, by bringing together different areas of expertise, aim to build new platform models for the management of insurance policies and of the bancassurance business through the use and implementation of artificial intelligence.