A business owner’s insurance policy did not provide coverage for software damaged by a ransomware attack because there was no direct physical damage or loss, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled.
“Computer software cannot experience ‘direct physical loss or physical damage’ because it does not have a physical existence,” the high court’s unanimous opinion says.
It was the second time this month that the Ohio Supreme Court decided that a direct physical damage or loss cannot be intangible. On Dec. 12, the high court ruled against an audiology practice that sought coverage for business income lost because of a shutdown ordered by the state to slow the spread of COVID-19.
