Consumer surveys can prove or disprove trademark infringement and help strengthen your intellectual property litigation. Keegan & Donato Consulting offers the data-gathering capabilities and expertise you need.
Keegan & Donato Consulting is a specialty research consultancy and a leading firm in the field of trademark litigation. We provide expert research, analysis, affidavits, and reports on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants to attorneys practicing in state and federal courts, before arbitration panels, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), and other specialty venues.
Our services include these and other areas:
- State-of-the-art design and execution of trademark litigation surveys, including likelihood of confusion, secondary meaning, strength of mark, acquired distinctiveness, Lanham Act claims, and others
- Full-service data gathering and reporting capabilities
- Damages analysis and forensic economic analysis
- Pilot studies and exploratory research
- Collaboration on complex commercial litigation issues
- Critique and rebuttal of opposing experts’ studies and reports
- Advice on questioning of opposing experts in deposition and at trial
- Expert witness testimony on consumer surveys, marketing & economic issues
We have designed consumer research studies for prestigious law firms from coast to coast, such as Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York City, Riemer & Braunstein LLP in Boston, Arnold & Porter LLP in San Francisco, and Stanley, Mandel & Iola LLP in San Diego.
Do You Really Need a Consumer Survey?
Surveys are valuable tools because they provide insight into actual consumer perceptions, often when no other scientific evidence is available and may help you build a stronger case.
You may have strategic reasons for deciding to proceed without survey evidence. Investment in a survey may be too expensive for the client. A pilot survey may have failed to produce satisfactory results. Or, perhaps your adversary’s consumer survey was so flawed that you hope a rebuttal expert will successfully critique it without having to conduct another study.
It can be hazardous, however, to proceed without survey evidence. In Pharmacia Corp. v. Alcon Labs, Inc., 201 F.Supp. 2d 335, 373 (District Court, D. New Jersey 2002), for example, the court noted that “Pharmacia is not legally required to conduct a confusion survey. But … such a failure, particularly when the trademark owner is financially able, justifies an inference that the plaintiff believes the results of the survey will be unfavorable.”
Because every case is unique, Keegan & Donato Consulting works with each one of our clients to understand the central issues of their cases so that we can maximize the value of the survey evidence to the overall case strategy.
Get in touch with Keegan & Donato Consulting today at (914) 967-9421. Our trademark surveys can help you prove or disprove infringement in support of your case. Our team can work on a fixed-rate or hourly basis based on the client’s needs and will help you design a methodologically sound consumer study.