Highly qualified trademark survey companies, such as Keegan & Donato Consulting, are capable of answering the questions you have to ask about using surveys in your intellectual property litigation.
Keegan & Donato Consulting is a specialty research consultancy and one of the most experienced companies in the field of trademark litigation. Our firm designs, executes, analyzes, and presents the results of consumer surveys, including:
- Likelihood of Confusion
- Strength of Mark
- Secondary Meaning
- Acquired Distinctiveness
- Dilution
- Lanham Act Claims
- Consumer Perception
- Survey Critiques and Rebuttals
Why Expert Advice is Valuable
Expert advice can be critical for a variety of reasons, such as in making the most of fact discovery, framing discovery requests, and identifying issues to investigate in depositions.
Primarily through survey evidence, an expert can help establish whether or not a descriptive mark has acquired secondary meaning; whether or not competing marks are likely to confuse consumers; whether or not a mark is famous; and whether or not one brand’s mark is likely to cause dilution to a competing mark.
Good survey evidence can be powerful. However, consumer surveys typically are not accepted without challenge. Courts demand accurate, real-world data, and design flaws can result in partial or full exclusion of survey evidence from a case.
For example, in Elliott v. Google, Inc., 45 F. Supp. 3d 1156 – Dist. Court, D. Arizona (2014), 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].
Choosing a Qualified Expert
There are several criteria to consider when selecting the most appropriate expert for your case, but experience is a very important factor. The expert should have the right balance of educational background and practical research experience, as well as experience in being deposed and testifying at trial.
Mark Keegan and Tony Donato offer more than 25 years of experience and a combination of strategic and analytical skills.
Mr. Keegan has consulted on a wide range of issues, from marketing and international business to consumer research for Lanham Act claims for more than 15 years. He is licensed to practice law in New York and Connecticut and is an AMA-designated Professional Certified Marketer.
Mr. Donato has a strong analytical background in marketing, intellectual property, trademark, copyright, best efforts, advertising, business damages, and business marketing ethics. He has a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University and has consulted on complex litigation matters since 2004.
We have designed and critiqued hundreds of consumer research studies across a broad range of industries for cases in federal court, state court, the TTAB, the NAD, arbitration hearings, and other specialty venues.
If you have questions to ask about using consumer research surveys in your trademark litigation, get in touch with Keegan & Donato Consulting at (914) 967-9421 to take advantage of our vast expertise.