When you need a consultant with a combination of strategic and analytical skills who provides likelihood of confusion surveys that can strengthen your trademark infringement case, Keegan & Donato Consulting can help.
We are a specialty research consultancy and one of the most experienced companies in the field of trademark litigation. With 25-plus years of combined experience, proven survey methodologies, and deep operational insight, principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato offer expert research, expert reports, expert witness testimony, and other litigation support on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants.
We have worked with many well-known firms from coast to coast, including Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP in Los Angeles, Riemer & Braunstein LLP in Boston, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York, and Reed Smith LLP in Chicago.
Similarity and Confusion
One of the foremost purposes of a trademark is to prevent consumer confusion. When marks are too similar, they may confuse consumers into purchasing unwanted brands, may dilute or damage a brand’s reputation, or may allow a competing brand to benefit from the established reputation of another brand.
Trademarks can be similar in appearance, sound, and meaning. Similarity is determined by whether the relevant consuming public is likely to be confused by the second mark. The greater the similarity between two marks, the greater the chances there will be confusion between them, and the greater the chances of infringement taking place.
A likelihood of confusion survey addresses the issue of consumer confusion from a scientific perspective, providing empirical data about the extent to which consumers believe that the brands at issue emanate from the same source or are somehow related.
Courts often regard consumer surveys as powerful evidence of likelihood of confusion in trademark infringement litigation and TTAB proceedings. To be considered relevant and reliable, however, surveys must be designed according to scientific and accepted research principles.
Our Survey Methodology
Keegan & Donato Consulting adheres to survey design, execution and presentation best practices. Our consumer research studies direct objective, non-leading questions to an appropriate universe of consumers. Procedures are in place to minimize potential biases in data collection, and our services include a full analysis and reporting of survey data.
We have designed hundreds of consumer research studies across many different industries with an objective of obtaining high-quality information from a representative sample of the targeted population. Survey samples are obtained from prominent marketing research companies that maintain multi-million-member online consumer panels.
The Keegan & Donato team can provide you with both strategic and technical advice; help you analyze the economic, financial, and/or technical complexities of your case; help you determine appropriate deposition questions to ask; help you prepare a testifying expert for deposition and trial; or critique potential weaknesses in an adversary’s survey evidence in a rebuttal report.
If you are involved in trademark infringement litigation related to likelihood of confusion and need a consumer survey designed to bolster your case strategy, look no further than Keegan & Donato Consulting. Contact us today at (914) 967-9421 to explore our wide range of services.