The Lanham Act protects businesses against the unfair competition of false or misleading product labeling and advertising. If you believe you have a Lanham Act claim, Keegan & Donato Consulting offers the data-gathering capabilities and expertise you need to strengthen your case.
Keegan & Donato Consulting’s vast experience includes conducting consumer surveys to test a wide variety of Lanham Act claims, such as likelihood of confusion, secondary meaning, strength of mark, acquired distinctiveness, trade dress, false and deceptive advertising, consumer perception.
Principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato offer more than 25 years of combined 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.
We have extensive testimony experience on consumer survey, marketing and economic issues, and hundreds of our consumer research studies have been admitted into evidence in state and federal courts, at arbitration, to the NAD, and to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).
Keegan & Donato Consulting can deliver intelligence quickly and within a wide range of budgets. We work 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.
False Advertising Surveys
The Lanham Act, as codified in 15 U.S. Code §1125, is the statutory basis for most trademark claims. The false advertising section (commonly known as Section 43(a)) gives competitors a cause of action against rivals who engage in misleading advertising or labeling.
Issues raised in the Lanham Act are particularly well-suited to testing through consumer research by addressing the ways in which consumers interpret—and misinterpret—names, symbols, and other marks used by businesses in commerce. The resulting evidence can be quite persuasive.
Although nothing in the Lanham Act requires litigants to introduce consumer surveys in false advertising disputes, a number of court decisions have noted the absence of consumer survey evidence.
For example, in Eagle Snacks, Inc. v. Nabisco Brands, Inc., 625 F.Supp. 583 (D.N.J.1985), the court noted that, “failure of a trademark owner to run a survey to support its claims of brand significance and/or likelihood of confusion, where it has the financial means of doing so, may give rise to the inference that the contents of the survey would be unfavorable, and may result in the court denying relief.”
A consumer survey can be particularly helpful if your case involves a Lanham Act claim for a competitor’s misleading but true statement. It can help you demonstrate the adverse effects of the misleading advertisement on consumers.
Consider Keegan & Donato Consulting for assistance with your Lanham Act false advertising litigation. We can help you meet the courts’ requirements for survey design, execution and analysis. Get in touch with us today at (914) 967-9421 to learn more about our wide range of services.