Intellectual Property Issues

co-branding Process:

Contact the office of brand management and be prepared to provide information about the proposed relationship.

This dialog might include:

Business and strategic reasons to implement relationship. Potential partner’s market reputation. Is this reputation a fit with the CIGNA Brand? Is this relationship exclusive to both parties?

obtaining approved logo art

Logo art can be obtained from CIGNA Brand Management. Call the office of Brand Management at 860.226.7050 - cigna.Brand. Management@ciGna.com.

To get the correct art for your need, please be prepared to specify the file format you need the mark in, its size, and if you know whether or not it will be placed over a color field. Absent that information, knowing the intended end use(s) will help narrow down the options.

I NT e LL e CTUAL Pr OP er TY I SSU e S

What is intellectual Property?

Intellectual Property (IP) refers to all types of confidential knowledge (like trade secrets, designs, know-how etc.) and includes patents, design patents, trademarks, domain names and copyrights.

Why is it important?

The registration of Intellectual Property is important as it allows us to patent and to protect solutions that give the company a competitive edge.

The primary goal of the CIGNA Intellectual Property Unit is to protect CIGNA products from unlawful exploitation, to promote sales, support licenses, to ensure we are not hindered from selling our own products, and to protect the reputation associated with the name “CIGNA.”

Protecting the ciGna Brand

Full compliance with the basic visual standards section of this document not only ensures that the CIGNA brand is properly represented; it will help protect the brand as a business asset of CIGNA. Misuse of the Trademark or Logotype could jeopardize our legal ability to protect the exclusivity of the brand. Anyone using the CIGNA brand therefore shares an obligation to represent it correctly in all communications.

All published material must be protected by copyright notice, in the form:

“© 20xx (year of first publication) CIGNA . ”

This applies regardless of the publishing location or business unit.

naming Policy

The purpose of the CIGNA Naming Policy is to keep the communications focus on the CIGNA Brand. The name of a CIGNA product or service should convey the key attributes or value of our offering in an easy-to-understand name that’s consistent with existing company nomenclature.

All new external names cannot be released until reviewed by CIGNA’s Corporate Brand Management and Legal teams. The information below outlines the process.

name categories overview

Names developed for CIGNA products usually fall into categories referred to as “generic” and “descriptive.” In certain situations, a third type labeled “suggestive” may be called for.

A Generic Name is the common descriptive name of a product or service. Generic names are typically easily understood, but cannot be registered and protected as licensed trademarks.

A Descriptive Name also requires very little explanation and is generally easy to understand. It directly describes the nature, quality, benefits or attributes of a given product or service.

Descriptive names cannot usually be trademarked but, with substantial use, they can achieve a secondary meaning and may eventually be trademarked.

A Suggestive Name is a coined name that contains little or no direct meaning about the product or service it represents. This type of name should only be used to represent business initiatives that will be significantly funded and will add unique long-term strategic value to the business. Suggestive names should be registered with the Patent and Trademark Office*

*See the “Creating New Names: Process” below. Names must:

Be preceded by the CIGNA Name (unless this will be a stand-alone brand).

Be positive or neutral in impact on the CIGNA Brand.

Be legally available.

Be free of acronyms and intentional misspellings.

Always be used in their entirety. (They should never be shortened or abbreviated in media or speech the first time they are used – but can be shortened with additional usage communication-by-communication.)

Never be graphically stylized, joined with a graphic element or used as a logo. Product names should always appear in a CIGNA-approved typeface.

creating new names/Process:

Step 1 – Naming Directions/Creative Routes:

Establish two to four naming directions or creative routes that can be used to guide name ideation. These should be based on key product attributes, functional or emotional benefits, target markets, or positioning points.

Step 2 – Naming Categories:

Once you have defined the creative routes, decide on a naming category.

Step 3 – Name Ideation and Submission:

Generate names with a brainstorming team according to chosen creative routes and selected naming category. Generate a lot of names and select the three to five best candidates, ranked by order of preference.

Step 4 – Review and Approval:

Submit these names to Mark Swayne, CIGNA Brand Management for review. Once the initial review is completed, the names will be submitted to CIGNA Intellectual Property to determine if the names are legally available.

The Brand Management team will review Suggestive Name options with CIGNA’s Brand Governance Council. The final selection of any name, if legally available and approved by the Brand Management Team, will be submitted to the Patent and Trademark Office and can be used in the marketplace.

Respecting others’ intellectual Property:

As part of the company’s commitment to ethical business conduct for all employees, it is critical that we respect the intellectual property of others. Physical and digital resources that are copyrighted and/or licensed must be properly and legally acquired, with full transparency and documentation when appropriate. This includes, but is not limited to, the following common communications tools:

CIGNA corporate typefaces. These must be purchased and licensed by each individual user. It is a violation of copyright law to freely distribute them, even within the company. But it is permissible to send a copy of the fonts along with a project to a printer, to ensure proper reproduction.

Professional graphic arts software. Popular software such as Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Corel, etc. is normally licensed for installation at one workstation only. It is unlawful to copy or distribute such resources to secondary workstations, employee computers at home, or any other users without obtaining the proper licensing agreement.

Images, graphics and illustrations. Photographs that are not the copyrighted intellectual property of CIGNA require licensing to be distributed by CIGNA. This includes customer-supplied photographs, commercial stock photography (per-incident or royalty free), and other previously published materials, whether physical or electronic. It is the responsibility of each user to understand the license agreement, and to fully comply with all terms and conditions.

The CIGNA Image Library contains imagery licensed exclusively to CIGNA, much of it commissioned specifically for the company. This collection is available free of charge to employees and vendors working on CIGNA business.

When using images provided from a customer, please obtain written documentation of their permission to use the photographs prior to publishing, which clearly states the terms of usage – is the image supplied for a single project, or may CIGNA use the image freely, in perpetuity? Is additional compensation or notice required?

When commissioning photography of people, whether CIGNA employees, professional models or other people who are neither professional models or CIGNA employees, you must obtain a signed photo release prior to taking any photographs. Please contact Mark Swayne for more information.

Most royalty-free digital images do not allow the customer-based distribution of their images, whether individual shots or CD-ROM collections, through any freely downloadable software interface.

Third party brands. We must show respect for our business partners’ brand assets, just as we expect third parties to respect the importance of our brand. Any representation of our customer, competitor, supplier or channel partner’s brands should follow all the conventions of their visual identity system. In instances where CIGNA’s visual identity system conflicts with third parties, please consult your brand council representative or Mark Swayne, for guidance.