Whether you are the attorney for the plaintiff or defendant in Portland, Oregon, Keegan & Donato Consulting offers trademark litigation support that can help bolster your case strategy. We can advise you on the best approach to a particular consumer survey or provide you an objective evaluation of survey research that already exists.
Keegan & Donato Consulting, located in Rye, New York, is a specialty research consultancy that designs and executes consumer-based surveys for attorneys and their clients in the context of intellectual property disputes. Principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato have more than 25 years of cumulative experience in the field of consumer research.
Value of Consumer Research Studies
Surveys are an invaluable tool for brands who want to gauge consumer perception of products or services; measure consumer understanding of contested marketing claims; assess the buying habits of a target market; test the marketplace for a new brand name, logo or concept; and other key marketing issues.
Keegan & Donato Consulting designs, executes, analyzes, and presents the results of IP litigation surveys, including:
- Likelihood of Confusion
- Secondary Meaning
- Strength of Mark
- Acquired Distinctiveness
- Lanham Act Claims
In addition to our survey design capabilities, the firm provides services in these and other areas:
- Full-service data gathering and reporting
- Marketing, damages and forensic economic analysis
- Collaboration on complex commercial litigation issues
- Pilot studies and exploratory research
- Critique and rebuttal of opposing experts’ studies and reports
- Advice on deposition and trial questioning of opposing experts
How Survey Flaws Can Damage Your Case
An overly broad survey that fails to address the key issues in a case, asks leading, suggestive or ambiguous questions, samples from the wrong geographic area, etc., may be deemed inadmissible or given little weight, even if based on an accepted standard methodology.
For example, in Elliott v. Google, Inc., 45 F. Supp. 3d 1156 – Dist. Court, D. Arizona (2014), the plaintiff’s surveys were deemed inadmissible because the Court determined them to be unscientific and poorly constructed. The survey expert was also rejected as unqualified “to design a survey or to interpret survey results.”
In Water Pik, Inc. v. Med-Systems, Inc., 726 F.3d 1142, 1144-50 (10th Cir. 2013), there is a lengthy discussion about the Court’s conclusion that the defendant’s survey evidence “had too many methodological flaws to be of any probative value.”
Hiring qualified survey experts, such as Keegan & Donato Consulting, will have a significant impact on whether the court deems your survey results admissible. We consider methodological design among the most important aspects of designing a consumer research study.
Expert Witness Testimony
If you need an expert when the facts and issues of your case are not easily understood, or when a court would benefit from empirical evidence related to relevant issues in the case, Mr. Keegan and Mr. Donato have testimony experience as expert witnesses in a number of high-profile cases involving consumer behavior and trademark infringement.
Attorneys whose litigation in Portland, Oregon requires the support and expertise of a trademark survey expert will benefit from the extraordinary knowledge of Keegan & Donato Consulting. Contact us at (914) 967-9421 to learn more.