If you are seeking consumer surveys to help support or contest an allegation of infringement in your intellectual property cases, you will appreciate Keegan & Donato Consulting’s expertise in trademark litigation research and consumer surveys.
As a specialty research consultancy, Keegan & Donato Consulting can advise you on the best approach to consumer surveys for trademark litigation and ensure that your survey evidence will stand up to judicial scrutiny.
Our firm has wide-ranging experience in the design, execution, and presentation of consumer surveys that have been admitted as evidence in state and federal courts, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), arbitration hearings, and other specialty venues. Principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato also have extensive testimony experience.
A Few of Our Survey Specialties
At Keegan & Donato Consulting, we specialize in conducting surveys to address various issues that arise in trademark infringement cases. Our survey methodologies are carefully crafted to measure different factors that can affect the outcome of these cases. Here are some of our specialties:
Likelihood of Confusion
We have extensive experience designing traditional and innovative custom surveys to determine whether consumers are confused by a contested mark. By measuring the likelihood of confusion, we can provide valuable evidence to support your case.
Secondary Meaning
Our team can conduct consumer surveys to assess whether a mark has acquired secondary meaning. This type of evidence is essential in demonstrating that a mark has become a distinctive identifier of a specific brand rather than a merely descriptive term.
False Advertising
We can also help you test issues related to false advertising and labeling under the Lanham Act. Our surveys can address how consumers interpret and misinterpret names, symbols, and other marks businesses use in commerce.
Lanham Act Claims
Lanham Act issues are very well-suited to testing through consumer research. Strengthen your case with a well-designed survey that can provide empirical evidence on whether an alleged trademark infringement has a real-world impact on consumers.
Avoid Survey Flaws by Hiring an Expert
While surveys can be powerful and valid evidence in Court, an improperly designed or executed survey may be deemed inadmissible or given little weight.
In Kate Spade LLC v. Saturdays Surf LLC, 950 F.Supp. 2d 639 – Dist. Court, S.D. New York (2013), the Court found little value in consumer survey evidence presented by both parties and afforded the surveys no weight at all in this infringement litigation. The Court also found the plaintiff’s survey poorly designed, and the defendant’s survey was determined to suffer from methodological flaws that raised “serious questions about the leading nature of the survey design.”
In Water Pik, Inc. v. Med-Systems, Inc., 726 F.3d 1142, 1144-50 (10th Cir. 2013), there is a lengthy discussion about why the Court made a decision that survey evidence submitted by the defendant in this trademark infringement and unfair competition case, “had too many methodological flaws to be of any probative value.”
Next Steps
When you need consumer surveys to bolster your intellectual property cases, contact Keegan & Donato Consulting at (914) 967-9421 to take advantage of our expertise, extensive training, and data-gathering capabilities.