Continuations and continuations-in-part are used to broaden coverage of an original patent application.

A continuation is a copy of an original patent application except that the inventor puts in new "claims". The new claims cover different aspects of the invention than the original claims covered. The new claims of the continuation are examined by the patent office. If the claims are allowed, a second patent issues. Thus an inventor can make it more difficult for a competitor to get around an original patent because the competitor would have to avoid infringing not only the claims of the original patent, but the new claims of the second patent as well.

Claims are numbered sentences at the end of a patent. They describe an aspect of an invention disclosed in a patent application. An inventor only has rights to what they claim. Any aspect of an invention described in a patent that the inventor does not cover with a claim is dedicated to the public. Inventors protect themselves against unintended dedication by filing continuations or continuations-in-part.

A continuation-in-part is similar to a continuation except that the inventor adds a description of the improvements to an invention that were made since the original application was filed. The inventor submits claims covering the improvements. The claims are examined and, if allowed, an additional patent issues protecting the new improvements.

Progressive’s campaign to protect their innovations in telematic auto insurance began in January of 1996 when they filed their original patent application. They filed several years before they actually tried their invention in an evaluation in Texas. By filing early, they made sure that they would not run the risk of losing their rights to a patent due to premature public disclosure or an "offer to sell".

The original invention described in the Progressive application was equipment and processes used to determine auto insurance premiums by directly monitoring driver usage and behavior. Driver usage and behavior were monitored by putting a global positioning system and a cell phone in a car. The cell phone would transmit the global positioning information to the insurance company on a periodic basis, such as monthly. Driver behavior, hence risk, hence underwriting class and hence premium were deduced from the transmitted information. Premiums could change monthly to the extent that driver behavior changed monthly.

Progressive’s original application issued as a patent in August 1998. The number and title of the original patent is US patent 5,797,134, "Motor vehicle monitoring system for determining a cost of insurance". The claims in the patent cover several different aspects of their invention. The claims cover an improved method for determining a cost of automobile insurance, an improved processes for acquiring insurance related data, an improved method for generating an actuarial class and an improved system for extracting data from a car. If a competitor attempts to copy any one of these claimed aspects of Progressive’s patent, then they will infringe the patent.

Before the patent issued, however, Progressive filed a continuation. The continuation had new claims covering additional aspects of the invention. The claims of the continuation were examined and allowed by the patent office. The second patent with the new claims issued in May of 2000. The second patent number is US 6,064,970. The title is the same as that of the original patent.

The second patent has additional claims covering more aspects of the invention. These additional aspects included a method of generating a database representative of operator driver characteristics, a method of insuring a vehicle based on operator driving characteristics, and a method of monitoring a human controlled motor vehicle.

By filing the continuation, Progressive was able to cover more aspects of their invention and thus make it more difficult for a competitor to find gaps in their patent protection.

Meanwhile, Progressive had continued to improve their invention while the original application and continuation were pending. In order to get patent protection for these improvements, Progressive filed a continuation-in-part. The continuation-in-part was filed before the second patent issued.

We don’t know what is in the continuation-in-part since it has not been published. We do know that the application number is 09/571,650, and we also know that at least some of its claims have been allowed. A patent with these new claims, however, has not issued yet.

Progressive has not stopped improving their invention. In January of this year, they filed yet another continuation-in-part. This second continuation-in-part covers improvements they have made since the first continuation-in-part has been filed.

The second continuation-in-part has been published. Its publication number is US 20040153362 A1 and its title is "Monitoring System for Determining and Communicating a Cost of Insurance". In this continuation-in-part, Progressive goes beyond mere insurance inventions. They describe inventions for actually reducing risky driver behavior. One of their inventions provides feedback to drivers based on the information available from a telematic auto insurance system.

Each of these continuations and continuations-in-part have kept Progressive’s original application alive in the patent office. This means that Progressive can continue to patent improvements to their invention without having their original patent cited against them as prior art. It also means that they can reach back to the original application any time they need to and close a gap in their claims that might be discovered by a competitor.

Filing early and filing continuations and continuations-in-part is an effective strategy for building a fortress of patent protection around a new technology. Progressive is just one of several insurance companies that are employing this tactic to strengthen the patent protection of their new insurance inventions.