Consumer survey companies, such as Keegan & Donato Consulting, can provide plaintiffs and defendants in Columbus and elsewhere in the nation with litigation surveys, survey rebuttals, and expert testimony for a wide variety of matters.
Lanham Act Surveys
Keegan & Donato Consulting specializes in conducting surveys to test a wide variety of Lanham Act claims, such as likelihood of confusion, strength of mark, acquired distinctiveness, secondary meaning, genericness, trade dress, and more, as well as false and deceptive advertising, and consumer perception. We also provide expert witness testimony on consumer survey, marketing and economic issues.
Expert advice can be critical for a variety of reasons, such as in making the most of fact discovery, framing discovery requests, and identifying issues to investigate in depositions.
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 causes consumers to be confused or misled. However, 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 First Data Merchant Services Corp. v. SecurityMetrics, Inc., No. RDB–12–2568, 2014 WL 6871581 (D. Md. Dec. 3, 2014), the report, opinions, and testimony of the defendant’s survey expert were excluded by the Court from the false advertising portion of the case due to the expert’s failure to use a control to test for consumer confusion (a “significant flaw”), and “several other troubling aspects” of its methodology.
Our Experience
Principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato have a combined 25 years of experience in consumer-based survey research and data analysis in the context of intellectual property disputes, and follow a solid methodological foundation in survey design, execution and presentation.
Our consumer surveys have been admitted into evidence in federal and state courts, at arbitration, and to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), and we have testified extensively at deposition and at trial.
Because every case is unique, we work with each client to understand the fundamental issues of their cases in order to maximize the value of the survey evidence to the overall case strategy. We would be pleased to advise you on the best approach to your consumer survey or provide you with an objective evaluation of an opposing expert’s survey research.
Keegan & Donato Consulting works on a fixed rate or hourly basis depending on the needs of each client, and will help you design a survey that is both reliable and within your budget.
Whether you are in Columbus or elsewhere in the U.S., consumer survey companies like Keegan & Donato Consulting can help you develop a powerful strategy with a reliable, methodologically sound consumer research study. Call us today at (914) 967-9421.