As you evaluate trademark survey companies to bolster your Miami case or contest an allegation of infringement, consider a prominent firm such as Keegan & Donato Consulting. Our consumer survey research solutions and expert testimony can help to strengthen your case.
Trademark surveys are a common approach toward proving consumer perception, likelihood of confusion, secondary meaning, strength of mark, acquired distinctiveness, and other issues, when other scientific evidence is simply not available.
Consumer research surveys, however, are highly vulnerable to criticism, and courts are careful to verify whether the survey design or methodology was flawed in any way. Issues surrounding sample selection, interviewer bias, or suggestive wording may cause a judge to discount all or part of a survey.
In Elliott v. Google, Inc., 45 F. Supp. 3d 1156 – Dist. Court, D. Arizona (2014), for example, the plaintiff’s surveys were determined to be inadmissible because they were deemed unscientific and poorly constructed. The survey expert was also rejected as unqualified “to design a survey or to interpret survey results” [see 45 F.Supp.3d 1167-1170].
It is important to choose a qualified survey expert who will be able to withstand cross-examination and explain his or her survey methodology in a clear and concise manner.
Hiring a Trademark Survey Expert
Keegan & Donato Consulting has designed and executed hundreds of methodologically sound consumer survey research studies in many different industries and collaborated on a wide range of marketing and complex commercial litigation issues, including damages analysis, forensic economic analysis, and related areas.
We have been engaged by leading IP litigators across the nation, such as Notaro, Michalos & Zaccaria PC in New Jersey, Day Pitney LLP in New York City, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in Boston, and Giampolo Law Group in Philadelphia, to help them navigate the trademark cases their clients face.
No two surveys are identical. Therefore, we work closely with our clients to understand the key issues driving their cases. This enables us to maximize the value of the survey evidence to their overall case strategies. Our state-of-the art survey designs employ both classic survey designs and innovative custom survey designs to suit our clients’ needs.
Principals Mark Keegan and Anthony Donato have over 25 years of combined experience and education in consumer-based survey research and data analysis, and follow a solid methodological foundation in survey design, execution and presentation, including:
- an appropriate universe selection and sampling frame
- inclusion of representative, qualified respondents
- a rigorous and valid design that proves the relevant issues in the case
- procedures to minimize potential biases in data collection
- use of objective, unambiguous and non-leading questions
The real-world results we have collected have provided our clients a foundation for presenting fact-based evidence in support of their positions.
In addition to designing and executing our own trademark surveys, our firm is often engaged to critique a consumer research study submitted by opposing experts. We have reviewed and rebutted hundreds of consumer surveys conducted in conjunction with litigation.
Consumer behavior is an ever-changing environment. When you need a highly qualified trademark survey company for IP litigation in Miami, call (914) 967-9421 or contact us here to find out how Keegan & Donato Consulting can help.