As you look for trademark survey companies to assist in your Colorado litigation, consider Keegan & Donato Consulting.
The principals of Keegan & Donato Consulting – Mark Keegan and Tony Donato – have extensive strategic and analytical skills and 30+ years of combined expertise in designing, executing, and critiquing consumer research studies in the context of litigation.
We have assisted well-known IP litigation firms, such as Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York City, Duane Morris LLP in San Francisco, Cooley LLP in Palo Alto, CA, and Hogan Lovells in Washington, DC develop effective case strategies.
How a Flawed Survey Can Damage a Case
Consumer surveys can play an essential role in proving likelihood of confusion, secondary meaning, strength of mark, acquired distinctiveness, consumer perception, and other issues when other scientific evidence is not available.
The evidence can be powerful, but consumer surveys are typically not accepted without challenge. Courts scrutinize them for methodological flaws. Issues of sample selection, interviewer bias, or suggestive wording may cause a judge to give a survey little weight or deem some or all of the results inadmissible. Hiring qualified survey experts will help prevent your survey from coming under attack.
In Cumberland Packing Corp. v. Monsanto Co., 140 F.Supp.2d 241 – Dist. Court, E.D. New York (2001), for example, “the court determined that the results of the [plaintiff’s] surveys were unreliable because of serious flaws in the protocol and methodology,” and ruled in the defendant’s favor.
In Elliott v. Google, Inc., 45 F. Supp. 3d 1156 – Dist. Court, D. Arizona (2014), the plaintiff’s surveys were deemed inadmissible because the court determined them to be unscientific and poorly constructed. The survey expert was also rejected as unqualified “to design a survey or interpret survey results” [see 45 F.Supp.3d 1167-1170].
In Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Monster Energy Company – Dist. Court, SD Florida (2021), the court ruled against plaintiff Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s (VPX) claim of trade dress infringement against defendant Monster Energy Co. “VPX has not shown any likelihood of confusion between Bang and Reign because, among other things… (2) VPX has failed to put forth direct evidence of actual confusion, and (3) VPX’s indirect evidence of confusion, in the form of a survey, is almost comically flawed.”
Are Trademark Surveys Expensive?
Keegan & Donato Consulting’s consumer research studies are custom-designed to meet the needs of your unique case. This may involve 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, and 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.
Trademark survey companies like Keegan & Donato Consulting can provide the expertise you need to develop a powerful trademark infringement case strategy in Colorado. Contact us at (914) 967-9421 to explore our capabilities.