If you are interested in having a consumer research survey designed to support your litigation, Keegan & Donato Consulting can help.

Keegan & Donato Consulting is a specialty research consultancy and a leading firm in the field of trademark litigation.  The firm provides expert research, analysis, affidavits and reports on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants throughout the nation.

Principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato offer a combined 25-plus years of experience and education 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 vast experience includes conducting consumer surveys to test a wide variety of Lanham Act claims, such as likelihood of confusion, strength of mark, secondary meaning, acquired distinctiveness, and trade dress, as well as false and deceptive advertising, consumer perception, and expert witness testimony on consumer survey, marketing and economic issues.

We have designed and executed many studies to determine how consumers in a particular market perceive a marketing claim and the extent to which those consumer perceptions align with the realities of the product being marketed.

Why Choose a Consumer Survey Expert?

Nothing in the Lanham Act requires consumer surveys to be introduced in disputes, but they can serve as persuasive evidence of whether an advertisement or trademark has caused consumers to be confused or misled. Surveys must be well-designed and scientifically sound, however, or the court may give them little weight or partially or completely exclude them.

In First Data Merchant Services Corp. v. SecurityMetrics, Inc., No. RDB–12–2568, 2014 WL 6871581 (D. Md. Dec. 3, 2014), for example, the report, opinions and testimony of the defendant’s survey expert were excluded by the Court from the false advertising portion of the case as a result of the expert’s failure to use a control to test for consumer confusion (a “significant flaw”), and “several other troubling aspects” of its methodology.

Because every case is unique, Keegan & Donato Consulting works 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, help you collect feedback and gain important insight from your target markets when you have a new product concept or are launching a new product, or provide you with an objective evaluation of an opposing expert’s survey research.

Keegan & Donato Consulting provides nationwide service to attorneys practicing in federal and state courts, before arbitration panels, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), and other specialty venues, and has been engaged by leading firms, including Riemer & Braunstein LLP in Boston, Arnold & Porter LLP in San Francisco, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York City, and Stanley, Mandel & Iola, LLP in San Diego.

To maximize the value of consumer survey evidence to your overall litigation strategy, Keegan & Donato Consulting will work within your budget to design an appropriate survey and deliver the results you need. Get in touch with us today at (914) 967-9421.