When you need a consumer survey to support your trademark infringement case, you will appreciate Keegan & Donato Consulting’s extraordinary expertise in the use of survey evidence in trademark litigation.
The principals of Keegan & Donato Consulting – Mark Keegan and Tony Donato – have extensive strategic and analytical skills and 25+ years of combined experience in designing, executing, and critiquing consumer research studies in the context of litigation.
As a specialty research consultancy, we are members of the International Trademark Association (INTA), the American Marketing Association (AMA), the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), the Association for Consumer Research (ACR), and ESOMAR, the leading global association for market, social and opinion researchers. We also offer other skills and tools that can help you strengthen your case.
Why Expert Advice is Valuable
Expert advice can be critical for several reasons, such as making the most of fact discovery, framing discovery requests, and identifying issues to investigate in depositions.
Through survey evidence, an expert can often help establish whether a descriptive mark has acquired secondary meaning, whether competing marks are likely to confuse consumers, whether or not a mark is famous, and whether one brand’s mark is likely to dilute a competing mark.
While nothing in the Lanham Act requires consumer surveys to be introduced in disputes, they can serve as persuasive evidence of whether an advertisement or trademark is likely to cause consumers to be confused or misled. However, consumer surveys must be well-designed and scientifically sound, or they may be given little weight by the court or partially or completed excluded.
For example, in Elliott v. Google, Inc., 45 F. Supp. 3d 1156 – Dist. Court, D. Arizona (2014), the court deemed the plaintiff’s surveys inadmissible after determining them to be unscientific and poorly constructed. The court also rejected the survey expert as unqualified “to design a survey or to interpret survey results” [see 45 F.Supp.3d 1167-1170].
In Dardenne v. MoveOn.org, Civil Action No. 14-00150-SDD-SCR, Dist. Court, M.D. Louisiana (2014), the court placed “little weight on the (plaintiff’s) survey results for the reason that the survey’s methodology was fundamentally flawed in both its sampling and the questions employed.”
Hiring qualified survey experts, such as Keegan & Donato Consulting, will have a significant impact on whether the court deems your survey results admissible. We consider methodological design among the most critical aspects of designing a consumer research study.
Most of our consumer studies cost between $30,000 and $80,000 to complete, and $55,000 is the most typical cost. We work on a fixed rate or hourly basis depending on your needs and will work with you to design a survey that is both reliable and within your budget.
If you intend to use survey evidence to help you develop a powerful trademark litigation strategy, Keegan & Donato Consulting can provide the expertise you need. Contact us at (914) 967-9421 to learn more.