Trade dress infringement is often measured with consumer survey research. Keegan & Donato Consulting has extensive experience conducting trade dress surveys and can help you determine if an alleged infringement is having a real-world impact on consumers.
Keegan & Donato Consulting, located in Rye, New York, has designed, executed, and critiqued a vast number of surveys that have been admitted into evidence by attorneys practicing in federal and state courts, before arbitration panels, the TTAB, the NAD, and other specialty venues. We can work within your budget to deliver the survey evidence you need.
Our specialties include:
- Trade Dress Analysis & Surveys
- Lanham Act Analysis & Surveys
- Acquired Distinctiveness Analysis & Surveys
- Likelihood of Confusion Analysis & Surveys
- Strength of Mark Analysis & Surveys
- Secondary Meaning Analysis & Surveys
- Consumer Perception Analysis & Surveys
- Consumer Understanding Studies
- Survey Critiques & Rebuttals
What is Trade Dress?
Trade dress refers to the characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging that are created strictly to promote it, identify its source and distinguish it from other products, such as its size, shape, color(s), texture or graphics.
In the case of a product, trade dress could be the distinctive packaging, the accompanying displays, or the product design itself. In the case of services, trade dress could be the décor of the place where the services are provided, e.g., the distinctive interior of a national chain restaurant or the design of the building.
Trade dress, like a trademark, is protectable under the Lanham Act. It is intended to protect consumers from product packaging and characteristics that imitate other products and to prevent a consumer from buying one product while believing that it is a different product.
It can be difficult to obtain protection for trade dress because applicants must prove that the design has established secondary meaning—i.e., that most consumers will associate the design with a single source.
Trade Dress Surveys
Conducting a consumer research study can help you gather the evidence to prove whether the trade dress in question has established secondary meaning in the marketplace.
To prove secondary meaning, we can design a consumer research survey to target relevant consumers in your client’s market and help you determine the extent to which consumers associate a contested mark with a single or multiple sources.
To be considered relevant and reliable, surveys must be designed according to scientific and accepted research principles. Keegan & Donato Consulting follows survey design, execution and presentation best practices.
Our consumer surveys direct objective, non-leading questions to an appropriate universe of consumers. We have procedures in place to minimize potential biases in data collection, and our services include a full analysis and reporting of survey data.
When you need to prove or refute an issue in trade dress litigation, Keegan & Donato Consulting can advise you on the best approach. Get in touch with us today at (914) 967-9421 to learn more.