Two and-a-half months into 2015, and we are having a different kind of march madness for Coverage B advertising injury decisions. The latest is Mid-Continental Cas. Co. v. Kipp Flores Architects, LLC, — Fed. App’x –, 2015 WL 795822 (5th Cir. Feb. 26, 2015), where the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a house is an advertisement for purposes of the duty to indemnify under Coverage B.
The background facts for the case are straightforward and unremarkable. Plaintiffs, Kipp Flores Architects (“KFA”) is an architecture firm that designs homes and licenses its designs to builders. The insured, Hallmark Design Homes (“Hallmark”) built a large number of homes using KFA’s designs without a license. KFA sued Hallmark for copyright infringement, seeking damages under the Copyright Act. Id. at *1. KFA alleged that: