Philips Oral Healthcare Inc. v. Federal Insurance

MEMORANDUM *

Philips Oral Healthcare, Inc. (“Philips”), formerly known as Optiva Corporation, appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Federal Insurance Company (“Federal”) in an insurance coverage dispute. Philips alleges that Federal has a duty to indemnify it for the amount of its second settlement with Gillette in a false advertising dispute regarding the Sonicare toothbrush. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and reverse.

Federal issued six commercial general liability insurance policies to Philips for consecutive one-year periods beginning on January 6, 1993 and ending on January 6, 1999. The Federal policies provided coverage to Philips for lawsuits arising from advertising injury among other things. From 1993 to 1996, advertising injury was defined in relevant part as follows:

From 1996 to 1999, the italicized language from the definition above was deleted, and the policies defined advertising injury more narrowly as “advertising material that slanders or libels a person or organization.”

The insurance policies became relevant after the Gillette Company filed two lawsuits against Philips in the United States District Court for the…