Photographers

Professional photographers are exposed to many risks that can be covered by professional indemnity insurance.

These can include:

• breach of contract (e.g. failure to deliver the specified photographs to a client)
• libel and slander
• infringement of intellectual property or copyright (see below)
• and other causes of loss

Professional indemnity claims against photographers could become more numerous following the judgement in favour of Temple Island Collection Limited in TEMPLE ISLAND COLLECTIONS v NEW ENGLISH TEAS in the Patents County Court, where it was held that creating a similar photograph infringed on the copyright of Temple Island Collection.  The whole judgement can be read here (with copies of the two photographs for reference) http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWPCC/2012/1.html.

The costs of defending your work and livelihood against this kind of claim can be very substantial and you should definitely look for a policy that covers legal costs in addition to the limit of indemnity.

If you are in the business of taking photographs for a living (commercial photographers, portrait photographers, wedding photographers, videographers, etc) you should give serious consideration to buying professional indemnity insurance now.

There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to providing professional indemnity insurance for such a wide range of related but different professions, which is why our online quote system has up to 10 different insurance companies competing for each quote, to ensure that you get the best combination of lowest price and appropriate cover.

There will be occasions, particularly with larger practices when our online quote system will be unable to find a quote, when this happens, we offer a full traditional broking service.  We will submit your proposal form to a range of professional indemnity insurance companies and Lloyd’s underwriters in order to obtain quotations from the market for you.

Additionally if you are self-employed, you should give serious consideration to arranging public liability insurance as well, to protect you against claims for injury to persons and damage to other people’s property.

We can add the following extra cover to professional indemnity policies:

• Public Liability
• Employers Liability
• Office Contents