When you need help preparing a response to a likelihood of confusion action, look no further than Keegan & Donato Consulting. We specialize in state-of-the-art survey design and execution that can bolster your trademark infringement case strategy.
Keegan & Donato Consulting is a specialty research consultancy and a leader in the field of trademark litigation. The firm provides expert research, analysis, affidavits, and reports on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants throughout the nation.
Principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato have extensive strategic and analytical skills and 25+ years of combined expertise in designing, executing and critiquing consumer research studies in the context of litigation.
Survey Methodology
Trademark cases can be complex and are frequently decided based on the quality of the evidence presented. To satisfy the scrutiny of courts and opponents, surveys are required to meet strict survey research standards.
- The survey population must be properly chosen and defined and utilize a sample that accurately represents the population.
- The questions asked must be clear, concise and unambiguous.
- The data must be accurately collected and reported.
- The data must be analyzed against statistical principles.
- The survey process must be conducted with a goal of maintaining objectivity.
Keegan & Donato Consulting obtains survey samples from prominent marketing research companies that are top providers of survey sample in the U.S. and maintain multi-million-member online consumer panels.
Our goal is to obtain high quality information that is a representative sample of the targeted population, and we have stringent procedures in place to minimize potential biases in data collection.
A likelihood of confusion survey addresses the issue of consumer confusion from a scientific perspective, providing empirical data regarding the extent to which consumers believe that certain brands at issue emanate from the same source or are somehow related.
By asking relevant consumers to respond to certain stimuli and recording their answers, it is possible to measure their attitudes and behaviors, and understand how they perceive a contested mark.
Judicial opinions can be harsh, however, when confronted with unscientific and poorly constructed surveys. In the case of Elliott v. Google, Inc., 45 F. Supp. 3d 1156 – Dist. Court, D. Arizona (2014), the Court completely disregarded the plaintiff’s surveys and rejected the survey expert as unqualified “to design a survey or to interpret survey results.”
Cost of Trademark Surveys
Keegan & Donato Consulting’s consumer research studies are custom-designed to meet the needs of each individual case. This often involves targeting specialized populations of respondents and developing unique designs to address the specific issues of importance in the case, factors that affect the time and level of difficulty of executing a study, as well as its overall cost.
Most of our consumer studies cost between $30,000 and $80,000 to complete, and $55,000 is the most typical cost. We work on a fixed rate or hourly basis depending on your needs, and will work with you to design a survey that is both reliable and within your budget. We will always provide you with an estimate of project costs prior to engagement.
If your response to a likelihood of confusion action will include a consumer survey, get in touch with the experts at Keegan & Donato Consulting at (914) 967-9421 to find out how we can help.
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