When you need survey experts to help solve your IP litigation challenges, Keegan & Donato Consulting can help. We quickly deliver intelligence within a wide range of budgets.
Relying on a combined 25-plus years of proven survey methodologies, deep operational insight and vast industry experience, principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato provide expert research, analysis, affidavits and reports on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants in support of trademark infringement litigation, and have collaborated extensively on cases involving business, marketing, and financial issues.
Value of Litigation Surveys
Survey evidence can provide important information about how consumers perceive marks, product designs, colors, websites, and other stimuli.
Keegan & Donato Consulting specializes in a wide range of trademark and trade-dress analyses and surveys, including:
- Likelihood of Confusion
- Strength of Mark
- Secondary Meaning
- Acquired Distinctiveness
- Lanham Act Claims
- Survey Critiques and Rebuttals
We also conduct consumer research studies that can examine whether or not particular marketing claims influence consumer demand for a product, how marketing communications impact consumer likelihood of purchase, and the relationship between marketing communications and the consumer’s willingness to pay a premium for a product.
Value of Hiring a Survey Expert
It is important to choose a qualified survey expert who will be able to withstand cross-examination and explain his or her survey methodology in a clear and concise manner.
Courts take care to verify whether survey design or methodology was flawed in any way. Issues with sample selection, bias, or suggestive wording may cause a judge to discount all or part of a survey, or to reject a survey expert altogether.
In Elliott v. Google, Inc., 45 F. Supp. 3d 1156 – Dist. Court, D. Arizona (2014), for example, the plaintiff’s surveys were determined to be inadmissible because they were deemed 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].
To be considered relevant and reliable, consumer surveys should be conducted by trained independent experts using sound methodologies, or the court may find them to be of little value.
Keegan & Donato Consulting provides nationwide service to attorneys practicing in federal and state courts, before arbitration panels, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), the NAD, and other specialty venues, and have been engaged by leading firms, such as Blank Rome LLP in Philadelphia, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in Boston, Arnold Porter LLP in San Francisco, and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York City.
When you need a litigation survey to support a case, the experts at Keegan & Donato Consulting have the extraordinary knowledge and expertise to help you meet the courts’ requirements for survey design, execution and analysis. Get in touch with us at (914) 967-9421 to learn more about our wide range of services.