When your case involves proving or disproving trademark infringement, take advantage of consumer surveys from Keegan & Donato Consulting. We build best practices into our survey designs to ensure that they are reliable and methodologically sound.
About the Firm
Located in Rye, New York, Keegan & Donato Consulting offers a wide range of services to plaintiff and defendant clients, including consultation on litigation strategy, consumer research studies, testimony in trademark and trade dress litigation, testimony at deposition and/or trial, expert reports, and rebuttal of opposing parties’ surveys when applicable.
Principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato have 25+ years of combined experience in the consumer research field as well as extensive testimony experience. Their credentials include:
- Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School (Keegan)
- Bachelor of Arts in History from Pace University (Keegan)
- Member of the New York and Connecticut Bar Associations (Keegan)
- Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University (Donato)
- Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Ursinus College (Donato)
- Co-author of peer-reviewed journal articles (Donato)
What Our Surveys Can Measure
Keegan & Donato Consulting designs and executes consumer surveys to ensure that the evidence you introduce in your trademark infringement case will hold up to scrutiny from courts and opposing experts.
Confusion: One of the primary purposes of a trademark is to prevent consumer confusion. With a mounting number of brands competing for share of mind in the marketplace, however, some confusion is inevitable. A well-executed standard or custom survey from Keegan & Donato Consulting can help you assess whether consumers are indeed confused.
Secondary Meaning: Descriptive marks are not typically protectable as trademarks unless they have acquired a secondary meaning. We design consumer research surveys that target relevant consumers in your client’s market and help you determine the extent to which consumers associate a contested mark with one or more sources.
Strength of Mark: The “strength” of a mark has a bearing on the legal protections available to a mark holder. In general, fanciful, arbitrary, and suggestive terms are considered inherently distinctive and are afforded various trademark protections. Descriptive marks are unlikely to achieve trademark protection because they lack sufficient distinction to be associated by consumers with one source.
Dilution: Trademark dilution occurs when an infringing party uses a famous mark in a way that tarnishes the mark’s reputation for quality or dilutes its strength by blurring its distinctiveness. Consumer recognition of a famous mark can be measured directly by a survey.
False Advertising: Issues raised in the Lanham Act, such as false advertising or labeling, are well-suited to testing through consumer surveys by addressing the ways in which consumers interpret – and misinterpret – names, symbols, and other marks used by businesses in commerce.
Trade Dress: Trade dress, like a trademark, is protectable under the Lanham Act. Conducting a consumer survey can help you gather the evidence to prove whether the trade dress in question has established secondary meaning or is likely to cause confusion in the marketplace.
Contact Keegan & Donato Consulting at (914) 967-9421 to learn more about proving or disproving trademark infringement with surveys and explore our affordable services.