Trademark Survey Companies – Las Vegas

Trademark survey companies, such as Keegan & Donato Consulting, can design and execute methodologically sound consumer surveys to help strengthen your Las Vegas case.

Consumer surveys can provide empirical evidence as to whether an alleged trademark infringement is having an impact on consumers, but these surveys are not necessarily accepted without challenge.

Courts demand accurate, real-world data. If a survey is not based on sound methodology, it may be given little weight or partially or completed excluded.

For example, in Kate Spade LLC v. Saturdays Surf LLC, 950 F.Supp. 2d 639 – Dist. Court, S.D. New York (2013), the Court ruled that a line of women’s apparel from Kate Spade LLC had not infringed on a registered trademark owned by men’s retailer Saturdays Surf LLC, finding that consumer confusion between the two marks was unlikely.

Although both sides presented survey testimony in an effort to measure consumer confusion, the Court found both to be of limited value and afforded them no weight in the decision.

Kate Spade LLC’s survey was also found to be poorly designed, and Saturdays Surf LLC’s survey was determined to suffer from methodological flaws that raised “serious questions about the leading nature of the survey design.”

Experience

Principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato offer plaintiffs and defendants more than 25 combined years of experience in consumer research studies in the context of intellectual property disputes.

Mr. Keegan’s experience in formulating case strategies in complex litigation involving business, marketing, economics, and financial issues on behalf of his clients, along with Mr. Donato’s experience in strategy, research, survey design and execution, and data analysis, create a unique blend of strategic and analytical skills.

Specialties

The firm specializes in a wide range of trademark and trade-dress analyses and surveys, such as:

• Likelihood of Confusion Surveys –We measure likelihood of confusion through classic survey designs and innovative custom surveys that meet our clients’ needs. Keegan & Donato Consulting has conducted hundreds of likelihood of confusion studies to ascertain whether consumers are confused by a party’s use of a contested mark.

• Secondary Meaning Surveys – Proving secondary meaning can be a critical step in trademark litigation. We can design a consumer research survey to target relevant consumers in your client’s market and determine the extent to which they associate a contested mark with a single or multiple sources.

• Strength of Mark Surveys – Trademark law protects distinctive marks, and the levels of legal protection are directly linked to the strength of the mark. If your case involves strength of mark, consider a survey that measures measure the level of consumer recognition of a mark or brand.

• Lanham Act Surveys –A well-designed survey conducted by Keegan & Donato Consulting can strengthen your Lanham Act case by providing empirical evidence on the issue of whether an alleged infringement is having a real world impact on consumers.

• Acquired Distinctiveness Surveys– Consumer research studies can help determine whether consumers associate a mark with a certain product and whether the mark has acquired sufficient distinctiveness to avoid causing confusion about the origin of goods or services associated with it.

When you need a trademark survey company that can provide research, analysis, affidavits, declarations, and expert reports to bolster your case in Las Vegas, NV, consider Keegan & Donato Consulting. Get in touch with us at (914) 967-9421 to learn more about how we can help.

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