By Travis Toemoe, Peter Yeldham and Alexa Milosevic. King & Wood Mallesons’ Sydney office

Defining what is and what isn’t “tangible property” should be easy. Right? There are a plethora of accepted definitions about tangible property being something that can be touched, perceived or held. Take, for example, flipping a coin. The outcome is binary, that is, something is either tangible or it isn’t. But if your business is heavily invested in protecting its data, you might want to flip the coin again.

It is not uncommon for insurance policies to stipulate that the insurer will pay damages arising from “property damage”, or provide a sub-limit on recovery for damage to property. Property damage usually refers to some form of physical damage to, or loss of, or destruction of “tangible property”. As ever, the law in this area has been slow to keep up with advances in technology. Whether data or electronic information can be considered “tangible property” (and therefore insured property) poses an important question for insurers and policyholders alike. Put simply, is your data insured or not?
Continue Reading Touch the edge – is data “tangible property” for the purpose of your insurance policy