Guides
Personal and advertising injury coverage
Coverage B of the CGL pays for seven named offenses, such as defamation and ad copyright claims. How the policy period applies and which exclusions bite.
Personal and advertising injury coverage is Coverage B of the commercial general liability policy. It pays defense costs and damages when someone says your business committed one of seven named offenses, such as defamation, invasion of privacy, wrongful eviction, or copyright or slogan infringement in your own advertising. Unlike Coverage A, it needs no "occurrence": it needs an offense, committed during the policy period, arising out of your business. It is narrower than its name suggests, and its exclusions remove most trademark, patent, contract and data claims.
The seven offenses
The ISO form CG 00 01 (04 13 edition) defines "personal and advertising injury" as injury, including consequential bodily injury, arising out of one or more listed offenses (form text). The list is closed. If the conduct alleged is not on it, Coverage B does not apply, however much the claim feels like an advertising problem.
| Offense | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| False arrest, detention or imprisonment | A shopper held by store staff or a guard over a suspected theft |
| Malicious prosecution | A business that pursued a groundless criminal or civil case against someone |
| Wrongful eviction, wrongful entry or invasion of the right of private occupancy | A landlord or its agent locks out or enters a tenant's space without right |
| Oral or written publication of material that slanders, libels or disparages a person, organization or its goods, products or services | A review response, social post or sales call accused of defaming or disparaging a competitor |
| Publication of material that violates a person's right of privacy | A customer's photo or private details published without consent |
| Use of another's advertising idea in your advertisement | Lifting a rival's campaign concept |
| Infringing another's copyright, trade dress or slogan in your advertisement | An unlicensed photo, song or tagline in your marketing |
An "advertisement" is a notice broadcast or published to the general public or specific market segments about your goods, products or services to attract customers or supporters. It includes material on the internet, but for a website only the part that is about your goods or services counts.
When the policy responds
Coverage B applies to injury caused by an offense "arising out of your business" that was committed in the coverage territory during the policy period. Three practical consequences follow.
- The date of the offense, not the claim, controls. A post published in March 2026 is a 2026 offense even if the suit arrives in 2028. That is the same occurrence-style logic as Coverage A, but defined by the offense.
- Prior publication is excluded. Exclusion c removes injury arising out of material "whose first publication took place before the beginning of the policy period." If you change carriers, a defamatory page that went live under the old policy does not become a new offense under the new one because it is still online or republished. The old policy is the one to notify.
- Territory. The coverage territory is the United States, its territories, Puerto Rico and Canada, plus, for offenses committed through the internet, the rest of the world, provided the insured's liability is decided in a suit on the merits in the covered territory or in a settlement the insurer agrees to.
The insurer has the right and duty to defend a "suit" seeking covered damages, and defense costs are supplementary payments that do not reduce the limit. A "suit" is a civil proceeding, or an arbitration or other alternative dispute resolution proceeding to which the insured submits with the insurer's consent. A demand letter or cease-and-desist letter is not a suit, so the insurer may not owe a defense until a complaint arrives. Notify anyway. See the insurer's duty to defend: what triggers it and when it ends.
The exclusions that decide most claims
The form's Coverage B exclusions run from a through p. These do the work.
| Exclusion | What it removes | Practical note |
|---|---|---|
| a. Knowing violation | Injury caused by or at the direction of the insured knowing the act would violate another's rights and inflict injury | Intentional torts are not insured |
| b. Material published with knowledge of falsity | Defamation or disparagement published knowing it was false | Applies to the insured's knowledge; innocent mistakes can still be covered |
| c. Prior publication | Material first published before the policy period | Continuing campaigns and old web content |
| d. Criminal acts | Injury arising out of a criminal act committed by or at the direction of the insured | The act matters, not the intent; read how the complaint pleads the facts |
| e, f. Contractual liability and breach of contract | Assumed liability and breach-of-contract claims, except an implied contract to use another's advertising idea | A dispute over a sponsorship or license agreement is not Coverage B |
| g, h. Quality, performance and price statements | Failure of goods to conform to advertised quality; wrongly described prices | False advertising disputes about what you sell, and pricing errors |
| i. Intellectual property | Infringement of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other IP rights | Exception: infringement of copyright, trade dress or slogan in your advertisement |
| j. Media and internet businesses | Offenses committed by an insured in advertising, broadcasting, publishing or telecasting, web design for others, or internet search, access or content services | Does not remove false arrest, malicious prosecution or wrongful eviction |
| k, l. Chatrooms and domain names | Chatrooms you host or control; use of another's name or product in your e-mail address, domain name or metatag to mislead customers | Cybersquatting and keyword tactics |
| m, n, o. Pollution and war | Pollutant-related injury and cleanup; war | Rarely relevant |
| p. Recording and distribution of material in violation of law | Claims under the TCPA, CAN-SPAM, FCRA (including FACTA), and any other statute limiting the collecting, recording, sending or distribution of information | Aimed at text, fax, e-mail and data-privacy statutes |
Two of these deserve attention.
Intellectual property. The IP exclusion removes patent, trademark and trade secret claims entirely, even when they arise from an ad. What stays covered is copyright, trade dress or slogan infringement in your own advertisement. A florist whose website uses a photographer's image without a license is in Coverage B territory; a florist sued for trademark infringement over its shop name is not. Companies that make or license IP need Intellectual property insurance: defense, enforcement and what a CGL misses, and anyone whose business is content needs media liability insurance: defamation, copyright and content claims.
Media and internet businesses. If your business is advertising, publishing or designing websites for others, exclusion j takes away defamation, privacy and IP coverage for your own work. A marketing agency's general liability will not stand behind its campaigns; see Marketing agency insurance.
Data privacy and statutory claims
Privacy suits are the area in which Coverage B has been most contested. The offense "publication of material that violates a person's right of privacy" is broad, and plaintiffs have used it to try to reach claims under statutes such as the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. Outcomes have turned on the specific policy's exclusions, and the 04 13 form's exclusion p, plus data-related exclusions many carriers attach, are aimed at those claims. Do not assume a general liability policy answers a privacy statute claim. The right policy for data events is cyber insurance: what it covers for a business; the litigation background is in Biometric privacy (BIPA) lawsuits and insurance.
Limits
Section III sets the personal and advertising injury limit as the most the insurer pays for all damages because of all personal and advertising injury sustained by any one person or organization. It sits under the general aggregate. There is no separate aggregate, so a year of Coverage A claims shrinks what Coverage B can pay. See Inside the CGL policy: Coverages A, B and C and general liability insurance: what it covers and what it does not.
Hypothetical scenarios
Say a neighborhood retailer with a standard CGL faces these claims in one year. The facts are invented to show how the coverage sorts them.
| Claim | Outcome under the standard form |
|---|---|
| A competitor sues over a social post falsely saying its goods are counterfeit; the retailer believed it was true | Disparagement (offense d); likely covered unless the insurer proves knowledge of falsity |
| A photographer sues for using her image in a mailer without a license | Copyright infringement in an advertisement; within the exception to the IP exclusion |
| A rival sues for trademark infringement over a store name | Excluded by the IP exclusion |
| A customer sues after being detained by security on suspicion of shoplifting | False detention (offense a), unless an assault-or-battery or similar endorsement removes it |
| Customers sue under the TCPA over promotional text messages | Excluded (exclusion p) |
| A former employee sues for discrimination | Not on the list of offenses; the employment practices policy is the place |
What to do when a claim letter arrives
- Do not respond to the claimant or delete the content; preserve the post, ad or e-mail and its metadata.
- Send the letter to your broker and insurer the same day, even though it is not yet a suit. See notice of claim and late notice: why timing matters.
- Do not admit liability, settle or promise to pay; the conditions bar voluntary payments without consent.
- Check whether other policies, such as media, cyber, employment or intellectual property, were bought and notify those insurers too.
- When a complaint is filed, tender it immediately; the insurer must then decide whether to defend, possibly under a reservation of rights.
- Review the forms schedule for endorsements that narrow Coverage B, such as assault or battery exclusions and data-related exclusions.
Key takeaways
- Coverage B is a closed list of seven offenses, with no "occurrence" requirement, tied to the policy period in which the offense was committed.
- It covers copyright, trade dress and slogan infringement in your advertisement, but not trademark, patent or trade secret claims.
- Exclusions for knowing falsity, prior publication, contract disputes, media businesses and statutory privacy claims decide most outcomes.
- The personal and advertising injury limit shares the general aggregate; defense costs sit outside the limit in the standard form.
- Content creators, agencies and data-heavy businesses need media, IP or cyber coverage because the CGL's Coverage B was not written for them.