Trademark survey companies, such as Keegan & Donato Consulting, can design and execute methodologically sound consumer surveys to help strengthen your Madison, WI case.
Relying on a combined 30+ years of proven survey methodologies, deep operational insight, and vast industry experience, principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato provide expert research, analysis, affidavits, and reports on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants in support of trademark infringement litigation. We have collaborated extensively on cases involving business, marketing, and financial issues.
We design, execute, analyze, and present the results of trademark litigation surveys in these and other areas:
- Likelihood of Confusion
- Strength of Mark
- Secondary Meaning
- Acquired Distinctiveness
- Lanham Act Claims
- Survey Critiques and Rebuttals
Why Surveys Are Useful
Is doing a survey worthwhile? Can it help you shape your strategy or win your case? These are commonly asked questions.
When infringement is alleged, litigants often use consumer surveys as evidence in support of (or against) a claim of likelihood of confusion, trade dress, distinctiveness, genericness, or secondary meaning.
Surveys can be valuable tools because they provide insight into actual consumer perceptions, often when no other scientific evidence is available. They can also be a critical factor in the Court’s assessment of a case.
In Classic Liquor Importers, LTD v. Spirits International B.V., No. 15 Civ. 6503 (JSR), Dist. Court, S.D. New York 2016, for example, the quality of the parties’ products was at issue in the case. However, the Court disregarded this factor, stating that “without the aid of consumer survey evidence or expert testimony, the Court is unable to draw any conclusions as to the respective quality of the products.”
Sound Methodology
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 did not infringe 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 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.”
As you evaluate trademark survey companies to assist you with litigation in Madison, WI, or elsewhere in the country, it is essential to choose one that will meet the courts’ standards for design, execution, and analysis. Get in touch with Keegan & Donato Consulting at (914) 967-9421 to learn more.