Trademark survey companies like Keegan & Donato Consulting can help you meet judicial standards for consumer survey design, execution, and analysis and serve as powerful evidence in your Durham, NC case.
Keegan & Donato Consulting is a specialty research consultancy and one of the most experienced companies in the field of trademark litigation. With over 30 years of combined experience, proven survey methodologies, and deep operational insight, principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato have expertise on many topics in the areas of trademark and trade dress.
We have conducted hundreds of consumer research studies across various industries for cases in federal court, state court, the TTAB, the NAD, arbitration hearings, and other specialty venues. We will:
- execute surveys with rigorous methodological principles
- document and support the choice of survey questions and sample method
- minimize the possibility of bias
- carefully analyze the data gathered
- support the results with knowledgeable, reliable expert testimony
Our firm can provide you with technical and strategic advice; help you analyze the economic, financial, and technical complexities of your case; help you determine suitable deposition questions to ask; help you prepare a testifying expert for deposition and trial; or critique the potential weaknesses in an adversary’s survey evidence in a rebuttal report.
Why Hire Qualified Survey Experts?
Survey evidence can be a persuasive component of your overall case strategy but continue to receive the critical attention of the courts and may be given little weight or excluded from evidence if poorly designed.
To demonstrate the importance of hiring qualified survey experts to support your case, consider Valador, Inc v. HTC Corporation, Case No. 1:16-cv-1162, Dist. Court, E.D. Virginia (2017).
The plaintiff in this trademark dispute, Valador, alleged that the defendants infringed on its registered mark, “VIVE,” used in connection with the sale of its software, with a headset the defendants called the “HTC Vive.”
To support its likelihood of confusion claim, the plaintiff hired an expert to conduct a survey. The defendants filed a motion to exclude the survey testimony on the basis that the expert was unqualified and used unreliable survey methods and principles to reach his conclusions.
The court granted the defendant’s motion and determined that the plaintiff’s expert “was not qualified to design a survey or to interpret survey results” because he “lacked the necessary experience with trademark infringement claims.”
The survey results were deemed inadmissible because they “(1) failed to evaluate the proper universe of respondents, (2) did not replicate market conditions, (3) neglected to use a control group, (4) eschewed the recognized methodologies for conducting trademark confusion surveys, and (5) asked improperly leading questions. These fundamental flaws, taken together, render the survey so unreliable as to be inadmissible.”
How We Can Help
Selecting the correct type of survey for a case requires skill and experience. Keegan & Donato Consulting approaches survey design on a case-by-case basis because each case is unique. We work closely with clients to understand and appreciate the fundamental issues driving the case and maximize the value of the research evidence to the overall case strategy.
When you need trademark survey companies with a combination of strategic and analytical skills who can assist you with your trademark infringement litigation in Durham, NC, Keegan & Donato Consulting can help. Contact us at (914) 967-9421 to learn more.