Coverage requirements
Trading Card Publishers
Last updated August 2026 · Maintained and reviewed by the Advocate Insurance Consultants coverage research team.
Overview
What an adequately protected Trading Card Publishers program looks like
Trading card companies produce cards of all varieties, including sports and gaming cards, drawing on licensed and original content. Their products carry intellectual property risk. Premises and operations liability and publisher's liability are the leading exposures, driven by potential trademark and copyright infringement. Calibrated to the exposures that drive trading card publishers, this Advocate Standard profile benchmarks Auto Liability, General Liability, Publisher's Liability, Worker's Compensation, Fidelity Bond and matches limit and deductible standards with carrier financial-strength requirements.
Key takeaways
- Spans 150 published requirements across 45 coverage type-peril pairs.
- Applies to 2 asset types: Manufacturing, Retailer.
- Covers 16 coverage types and 17 distinct perils.
At a glance
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Completion score
9 of 45 WIM pairs required
Coverage tower
Required limits by coverage type and peril
Requirements
Full requirement set for Trading Card Publishers
Every requirement in the Advocate standard, 150 rows across limits, deductibles, carrier rating, and presence checks. Search and filter to drill in.
Showing 50 of 150 matching · 150 total
Compliance
Who requires Trading Card Publishers
- Licensors of sports, entertainment, and character properties require publishers to carry liability coverage, including media and intellectual-property protection, as a condition of licensing agreements, and often require additional insured status.
- Print and manufacturing partners and distributors may request certificates.
- Retailers and hobby distributors buying product may set coverage terms.
- Lenders financing printing, packaging, and production equipment condition loans on property, equipment-breakdown, and business income coverage, and investors expect professional and media liability given the intellectual-property intensity of the business.
Carrier standard. Carrier must have AM Best rating >= A- and size >= VII.
Advocate runs these checks automatically for the brokers who place retail coverage.
Exclusions
What Trading Card Publishers does not cover
- General liability, property, business income, inland marine, and publisher's liability anchor the coverage, but a publisher's core risk is intangible.
- Publisher's and media liability responds to copyright and trademark infringement, defamation, and invasion of privacy in card content and imagery, yet coverage can be narrowed by exclusions for known infringement or unlicensed use, so rights clearance matters.
- Product and completed-operations exposure applies to physical cards, but the sharpest risk is a licensing or IP dispute rather than a property loss.
- Cyber for design files and customer data is not present.
- Flood, earthquake, ordinance or law, and machinery breakdown for production equipment require confirmation and scheduling.
Risk advisory
Typical coverage gaps in Retail
Intellectual property is the defining exposure, so confirm publisher's and media liability covers copyright and trademark infringement, defamation, and invasion of privacy in card artwork, likenesses, and text, and understand exclusions for known or unlicensed use.
- Maintain disciplined rights clearance and licensing records, since coverage will not rescue an unlicensed use.
- Because production depends on printing and packaging equipment, verify equipment-breakdown coverage and size business income to the lead time to restore a print run.
- Protect design files, artwork, and customer data with cyber coverage.
- Insure finished inventory and materials in process for replacement value, and confirm additional insured and indemnity wording flows to licensors and print partners as their agreements require.
- Align business income with product-release cycles that concentrate revenue.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What insurance do trading card publishers need?
Trading card publishers carry general liability, publisher's and media liability for intellectual-property and defamation claims, property with equipment breakdown for production, business income, and workers' compensation. Cyber liability protects design files and customer data, and inland marine covers inventory and materials in process. Licensing agreements often mandate media coverage.
Does publisher's liability cover copyright claims?
Publisher's and media liability responds to copyright and trademark infringement, defamation, and invasion of privacy arising from card content, artwork, and likenesses. However, coverage is typically narrowed by exclusions for known or unlicensed use, so disciplined rights clearance is essential. The coverage protects against disputes over properly licensed content, not deliberate or unlicensed use.
Why do trading card publishers need media liability?
A trading card publisher's biggest exposure is intellectual property, since cards use licensed images, likenesses, and content. Media liability covers infringement, defamation, and privacy claims that general liability excludes. Licensors frequently require it in their agreements, making it both a contractual obligation and the coverage most aligned with the publisher's core risk.
Is production equipment covered for a card publisher?
Equipment breakdown coverage responds to mechanical and electrical failure of printing, cutting, and packaging equipment that standard property policies exclude. Because a production stoppage delays releases, confirm this coverage is scheduled and pair it with business income coverage sized to the lead time to restore a print run and meet committed release dates.
Benchmark-driven advice.
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