When you’re handling a case in the Northern District of Illinois, you need trademark litigation survey experts in Chicago, IL who understand both the local courts and the realities of the marketplace. The Judges in the Seventh Circuit see an abundance of trademark and Lanham Act matters each year. They’re used to looking past flashy graphics to ask a simple question, “Did the survey actually reflect how likely purchasers experience these brands?”

Keegan & Donato Consulting serves litigators nationwide, including many based in Chicago. They’ve been engaged by top IP firms in the city and across the country to design, execute, and critique consumer surveys.

Why Chicago Litigators Lean on Survey Experts

In a dense market like Chicago, consumer perception can make or break a case. Courts in the Seventh Circuit have repeatedly recognized that appropriately designed consumer surveys are powerful evidence when it comes to issues like likelihood of confusion and dilution. This is especially true when a party could afford a survey and chose not to present one.

Core Trademark Survey Services for Chicago Cases

As trademark litigation survey experts, Keegan & Donato offers a suite of services that fits the kinds of matters regularly filed in Chicago:

• Likelihood of Confusion Surveys: Using an experimental test–versus–control design, they measure how likely purchasers misperceive source, affiliation, or sponsorship when they encounter the parties’ marks within marketplace proximity.
• Strength-of-Mark Surveys: These studies assess recognition and distinctiveness. They helping show if a mark stands out in the marketplace or is weakened by third-party use.
• Secondary Meaning and Acquired Distinctiveness: For descriptive marks, trade dress, or color, surveys examine if the consumers connect those elements with a single source.
• Lanham Act Consumer Perception and Understanding: Keegan & Donato tests how likely purchasers interpret claims, disclaimers, labeling, and website presentations. This shows whether those communications leave a misleading impression.
• Survey critiques and rebuttal work. The firm also reviews an opponent’s survey. They focus on flaws in universe, screening, stimuli, questions, controls, and analysis that can undercut its weight.

Experience That Plays Well in the Seventh Circuit

Principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato bring about 40 years of combined experience conducting consumer research studies in the context of litigation. In addition, they have designed, executed, and critiqued hundreds of surveys that have been used in federal and state courts, at the TTAB, and before arbitration panels.

However, their background is not limited to survey mechanics. It includes case strategy, marketing, economics, and data analysis. They provide skills that matter when you’re explaining survey findings to a judge who may be skeptical of expert evidence but open to clear, grounded reasoning.

Trademark Litigation Survey Experts in Chicago, IL

At the end of the day, trademark litigation survey experts in Chicago, IL are valuable because they help you give the court something better than argument: credible evidence about what likely purchasers actually think. If you are handling a trademark, trade dress, or Lanham Act matter in Chicago and need litigation-tested survey support or rebuttal work, Keegan & Donato can help. To discuss your case strategy with a survey expert, call (914) 967-9421 today or reach out to us online to schedule a call.