What is personal and advertising injury coverage?
Personal and advertising injury is Coverage B of a general liability policy. It pays to defend and settle claims that your business committed one of a short list of offenses: libel or slander, invasion of privacy, false arrest, malicious prosecution, wrongful eviction, using someone else’s advertising idea in your ad, or infringing a copyright, trade dress or slogan in your ad. It does not cover infringement in work you make for clients, and the standard form removes it entirely for businesses whose work is advertising, publishing or website design for others.
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Coverage A, Coverage B, and why the difference matters
A general liability policy has two main liability parts. Coverage A pays for bodily injury and property damage caused by an accident: a customer slips, an employee knocks over a client’s display. Coverage B pays for personal and advertising injury, which is a different kind of harm. Nobody is hurt and nothing is broken. Someone says your business damaged their reputation, their privacy, their freedom of movement or their advertising.
The practical difference is how each part decides what it covers. Coverage A covers accidents unless an exclusion says otherwise, so it is broad by default. Coverage B covers only the offenses the form names. Anything not on the list is outside it before any exclusion is read, which is why a business can have a large Coverage B limit and still find that the claim it received is not one the policy recognizes.
Coverage B also does not require an accident. Several of the offenses are deliberate acts by nature, such as detaining a person or publishing a statement, so the form covers the intentional act and excludes only the cases where the insured knew it was violating someone’s rights or knew the statement was false.
Why agencies, creators and retailers care
Marketing, advertising and PR agencies care because exclusion j is written for them. A business whose work is advertising, publishing or designing website content for others has no Coverage B on the standard form, so the defamation, privacy and copyright claims that come from client work belong on a media liability or agency professional policy. A client procurement team that asks for "personal and advertising injury" on the certificate is often really asking whether the agency is insured for the content, and the honest answer comes from the media policy.
Content creators and small publishers care for the same reason, with a twist. A creator who makes videos for their own channel is publishing, and many underwriters treat a channel that earns from sponsorships as a publishing business. Whether exclusion j applies can turn on how the business is described on the application, which is a reason to describe it accurately and to buy media liability for the content rather than rely on Coverage B.
Retailers care because the oldest offenses on the list are the ones a store commits by accident. False detention of a customer, a public accusation of theft, a security guard who goes too far and a landlord-tenant dispute over entry all sit in Coverage B. A store’s own advertising is also covered for the advertising offenses, which matters for an independent shop running its own social ads with photographs it did not take.
Landlords and property managers care about the wrongful eviction and wrongful entry offense, which is how a tenant’s claim that the landlord entered without notice or locked them out reaches a general liability policy at all.
When Coverage B is not enough
If your business makes content, ads, websites or publications for other people, you need media liability, either on its own or built into an agency or technology professional policy. It covers copyright and trademark infringement, defamation and privacy claims arising from the work itself, without the advertising limitation.
If the risk is a patent, a trade secret or a trademark used outside an advertisement, no general liability form answers it. Intellectual property defense is a separate and specialized purchase.
If the risk is a data breach or a privacy claim about personal information you hold, look at cyber liability. Many carriers add an endorsement to general liability that excludes access to or disclosure of confidential or personal information, so those claims belong on a cyber policy.
The seven offenses, and what each looks like
Coverage B answers only these. Each row is the offense as the form names it and the claim a small business actually receives.
False arrest, detention or imprisonment
- A claim that fits it
- A store employee holds a customer for shoplifting and the customer had paid
- Who sees it most
- Retailers, bars, venues, security firms
Malicious prosecution
- A claim that fits it
- A business presses charges or sues without grounds and the case is dismissed
- Who sees it most
- Retailers, landlords, collection businesses
Wrongful eviction, wrongful entry, invasion of private occupancy
- A claim that fits it
- A tenant says the landlord entered without notice or changed the locks
- Who sees it most
- Landlords, property managers, hotels
Slander, libel or disparagement
- A claim that fits it
- A post or ad says something false about a person or a competitor’s product
- Who sees it most
- Every business that publishes reviews, comparisons or social posts
Violation of a right of privacy
- A claim that fits it
- A customer’s photo appears in your ad without a release
- Who sees it most
- Retailers, gyms, restaurants, creators
Use of another’s advertising idea in your advertisement
- A claim that fits it
- A competitor says your campaign copies their concept
- Who sees it most
- Retailers, consumer brands
Infringing copyright, trade dress or slogan in your advertisement
- A claim that fits it
- A photographer sends a demand over an image in your own social ad
- Who sees it most
- Any business running its own ads
Read against ISO CG 00 01 04 13. A carrier’s own form or an endorsement can change the list, so the forms schedule on your policy is what decides.
The exclusions that decide most Coverage B claims
Intellectual property (i)
- What it removes
- Copyright, patent, trademark and trade secret claims, except copyright, trade dress or slogan in your own ad
- Where the claim goes instead
- Media liability, or intellectual property coverage for patents and trade secrets
Insureds in media and internet businesses (j)
- What it removes
- All of Coverage B, for businesses whose work is advertising, publishing, broadcasting or website content for others
- Where the claim goes instead
- Media liability or an agency professional policy
Knowing violation and known falsity (a, b)
- What it removes
- Acts done knowing they would violate another’s rights, and statements published knowing they were false
- Where the claim goes instead
- Nothing; these are not insurable
Prior publication (c)
- What it removes
- Material first published before the policy began
- Where the claim goes instead
- The policy in force when it was first published, if any
Breach of contract and contractual liability (e, f)
- What it removes
- Liability you took on by contract, and breach of contract other than misappropriation of an advertising idea under an implied contract
- Where the claim goes instead
- Your contract terms, or professional liability for the service
Quality or performance of goods (g)
- What it removes
- Claims that a product or service did not live up to your ad
- Where the claim goes instead
- Nowhere; it is a business risk
Wrong description of prices (h)
- What it removes
- Claims over a price stated in an ad
- Where the claim goes instead
- Nowhere
Letters are the exclusion’s position in Section I, Coverage B, paragraph 2 of CG 00 01 04 13.
The detail
Personal and advertising injury is defined as injury arising out of seven offenses: false arrest, detention or imprisonment; malicious prosecution; wrongful eviction, wrongful entry or invasion of the right of private occupancy; publication of material that slanders or libels a person or organization or disparages their goods, products or services; publication of material that violates a person’s right of privacy; use of another’s advertising idea in your advertisement; and infringing upon another’s copyright, trade dress or slogan in your advertisement.
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13, Section V, definition 14
Coverage B is triggered by an offense committed during the policy period, not by an accident, and it applies only to offenses arising out of your business.
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13, Section I, Coverage B, insuring agreement 1.b
The form excludes infringement of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property rights, except infringement of copyright, trade dress or slogan in your own advertisement.
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13, Section I, Coverage B, exclusion i
The form excludes personal and advertising injury committed by an insured whose business is advertising, broadcasting, publishing or telecasting, designing or determining the content of websites for others, or an internet search, access, content or service provider.
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13, Section I, Coverage B, exclusion j
The form excludes injury caused by an insured with knowledge that the act would violate another’s rights, material the insured published knowing it was false, and material first published before the policy period began.
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13, Section I, Coverage B, exclusions a, b and c
The form excludes claims arising from the failure of goods, products or services to conform to any statement of quality or performance made in your advertisement, and from the wrong description of the price of goods, products or services.
ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13, Section I, Coverage B, exclusions g and h
A copyright owner can elect statutory damages of $750 to $30,000 per work infringed, and up to $150,000 per work where the infringement was willful, without proving any actual loss.
What this means for you
- The limit on your certificate is not a promise about your claim. Coverage B is a list. If what you are accused of is not one of the seven offenses, or it is one of them and an exclusion applies, the $1,000,000 printed beside "Personal & Adv Injury" pays nothing toward it.
- Agencies, publishers and web designers usually have none of it. Exclusion j removes Coverage B for a business whose work is advertising, publishing or website content for others. Those businesses buy media liability, which is written for the work itself.
- Your own ads are covered better than the work you sell. The copyright, trade dress and slogan offense applies to infringement in your advertisement. A stock photo in your own social post can be a Coverage B claim; the same photo in a client’s campaign is excluded.
- A retailer’s most likely Coverage B claim is a person, not a picture. Detaining a suspected shoplifter who turns out to have paid is false detention, and accusing them in front of other customers can add slander. Those are the oldest offenses on the list and the ones a store most needs.
- Check for an endorsement that removes it. Some carriers attach an endorsement that deletes Coverage B entirely or narrows it, particularly on low-priced policies. The certificate will still show a limit unless someone reads the forms list.
Related questions
- Does general liability cover copyright infringement?
Only in a narrow case. The standard form covers infringement of copyright, trade dress or slogan in your own advertisement, and excludes every other intellectual property claim. A stock photo in your own ad can be covered; the same photo in work you sold to a client is not, and a business whose work is advertising or website design has no Coverage B at all. Media liability is the policy written for the rest.
- What media liability covers
- Is defamation covered by general liability?
Usually yes, as the slander and libel offense in Coverage B, provided the statement was made in the course of your business, you did not know it was false, and you are not in an advertising, publishing or media business. A post on your own company page about a competitor is the typical case. Defamation in content you produce for clients belongs on media liability.
- Defamation insurance
- What does "Personal & Adv Injury $1,000,000" on a certificate mean?
It is the most the policy will pay for all Coverage B claims from one person or organization. It is part of, not on top of, the general aggregate on most policies. The figure tells a certificate holder that Coverage B exists; it does not tell them whether an endorsement has narrowed it or whether exclusion j applies to your business, which only the policy forms show.
- What a certificate shows, and what only an endorsement does
- Do I need personal and advertising injury coverage as a small retailer?
Yes, and it comes with any standard general liability or business owners policy. For a store the important offenses are false detention, a public accusation of theft and the privacy and copyright offenses in your own ads. Check that your policy has not been issued with an endorsement deleting Coverage B, which some low-priced forms carry.
- Retail insurance
- Does Coverage B cover a data breach or a privacy lawsuit about customer data?
Rarely. Many general liability policies now carry an endorsement excluding injury arising from access to or disclosure of confidential or personal information, and claims under privacy statutes are commonly excluded as well. A breach of customer data belongs on cyber liability.
- Cyber liability insurance
- Can I ask an AI assistant to check my policy for this?
You can ask it to read the forms schedule on your general liability policy and look for an endorsement that excludes or amends personal and advertising injury, and to tell you whether your business description could fall under the media and internet exclusion. Then send us the policy and we will confirm it. Assistants can find how to send a request at boring.insure/for-assistants.
- Applying for insurance through an AI assistant
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Written by the licensed brokers at Boring Insurance. Last updated 2026-10-04. See all guides.