When your trademark infringement litigation calls for exceptional survey design, take advantage of the expertise of Keegan & Donato Consulting.
Keegan & Donato Consulting is a specialty research consultancy and one of the most experienced firms in the field of trademark litigation.
With a combined 25-plus years of experience in conducting consumer research studies, as well as membership in the International Trademark Association (INTA), the American Marketing Association (AMA), the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), and ESOMAR, the leading global association for market, social and opinion researchers, principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato offer skills and tools that can help you strengthen your case.
Our nationwide services include these and other areas:
- State-of-the-art survey design and execution
- 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 rebuttalof opposing experts’ studies and reports
- Advice on questioning of opposing experts in deposition and at trial
- Expert witness testimonyon consumer survey, marketing & economic issues
Keegan & Donato Consulting has been engaged by leading IP litigation firms from coast to coast, such as Day Pitney LLP in New York City, Giampolo Law Group in Philadelphia, Arent Fox in Washington, DC, and Girard Gibbs LLP in San Francisco to help them navigate the trademark infringement cases their clients face.
A Flawed Survey Can Damage Your Case
Consumer surveys are important in determining whether competing marks are likely to confuse consumers, whether a descriptive mark has acquired secondary meaning, whether a mark is famous, and whether one mark is likely to dilute a competing mark.
Surveys are highly susceptible to criticism, however, and you can expect the courts to scrutinize them for methodological flaws. Sample selection issues, interviewer bias, and suggestive wording may cause a judge to attribute little weight to the survey or deem some or all of the results inadmissible.
In Water Pik, Inc. v. Med-Systems, Inc., 726 F.3d 1142, 1144-50 (10th Cir. 2013), for example, there is an extensive discussion wherein the Court excludes the defendant’s survey evidence after concluding that it “had too many methodological flaws to be of any probative value.”
In Elliott v. Google, Inc., 45 F. Supp. 3d 1156 – Dist. Court, D. Arizona (2014), the Court deemed the plaintiff’s surveys inadmissible after finding them to be unscientific and poorly constructed. The Court also rejected the plaintiff’s survey expert as “unqualified to design a survey or to interpret survey results” [see 45 F.Supp.3d 1167-1170].
For reasons like these, it is crucial to hire qualified survey experts, such as Keegan & Donato Consulting. Our methodologically sound consumer research studies and expert testimony will meet the courts’ standards for design, execution, and analysis and can serve as powerful evidence in your case.
To learn more about survey design and whether a consumer research study could strengthen your trademark infringement case, get in touch with Keegan & Donato Consulting at (914) 967-9421. We will work within your budget to get you the results you need.