The suit describes Progressive’s patents ‘970, ‘598 and ‘358, for inventions related to the determination of insurance ratings based on vehicle monitoring, usage and driving characteristics and alleges infringement via State Farms’ “Drive Safe & Save” program.
According to the suit, State Farms’ “Drive Safe & Save” program “obtains data regarding driving characteristics, including, for example mileage, speed, rapid acceleration, left turns and right turns, from an insured vehicle,” and “calculates a rating based on the obtained driving characteristics data in accordance with a formula provided by or for State Farm.”
Progressive offers a Pay as You Drive program called Snapshot, which records the time of day and vehicle speed, which is used to determine how many miles the insured drives and how often they make sudden stops.
“State Farm developed ‘Drive Safe & Save’ to provide the opportunity for additional discounts to our customers and reinforce their safe driving habits,” said Dick Luedke, State Farm spokesperson.
The suits were filed in the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division. Progressive has filed a similar suit against
Progressive and The Hartford had not commented as of press time.
