Whether you are located in Oklahoma City, OK, or elsewhere in the U.S., trademark survey companies like Keegan & Donato Consulting can help you develop a robust case strategy for I.P. litigation.
Keegan & Donato Consulting designs, executes, and reports on consumer survey research studies and collaborates on marketing and complex commercial litigation issues.
We have designed hundreds of studies across many different industries to test a variety of Lanham Act claims, such as the likelihood of confusion, strength of mark, acquired distinctiveness, secondary meaning, false designation of origin, trade dress infringement, and a wide range of other issues, including damages analysis, forensic economic analysis, and related areas.
Our firm offers technical and strategic advice; helps you analyze the economic and technical complexities of your case; helps you determine appropriate deposition questions to ask; and assists you in preparing a testifying expert for deposition and trial or critique the potential weaknesses in your adversary’s survey evidence in a rebuttal report.
Why Do You Need a Survey?
The Lanham Act is the basis for most trademark claims and is codified in 15 U.S. Code §1125. The issues it raises are well-suited to testing through consumer survey research which addresses how consumers interpret and misinterpret the names, symbols, and other marks used by businesses in commerce. The resulting evidence can be compelling.
While the Lanham Act does not require litigants to introduce trademark surveys as evidence, some court decisions have drawn adverse inferences when a party fails to submit a survey and explained how the absence of a survey impacted their decisions.
In Pharmacia Corp. v. Alcon Labs, Inc., 201 F.Supp. 2d 335, 373 (D.N.J. 2002), the Court remarked that “Pharmacia is not legally required to conduct a confusion survey. But under the circumstances of this case, Pharmacia’s failure to conduct any confusion survey weighs against its request for a preliminary injunction. Such a failure, particularly when the trademark owner is financially able, justifies an inference that the plaintiff believes the results of the survey will be unfavorable.”
Similarly, in King-Size, Inc. v. Frank’s King-Size Clothes, Inc., 547 F.Supp. 1138, 1162 (S.D. Tex. 1982), the Court commented that “Plaintiffs did not present to the Court a survey or any other direct evidence of actual confusion. The Court views these omissions as both suspect and significant.”
Surveys conducted by Keegan & Donato Consulting have been admitted as evidence in state and federal courts, at arbitration, and to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), the N.A.D., and other specialty venues, in matters involving wide-ranging products and services. We have also testified extensively at deposition and trial.
Experienced trademark survey companies like Keegan & Donato Consulting can provide you with a reliable, defensible study that can help bolster your case in Oklahoma City, OK. We conduct surveys with meticulous attention to industry best practices for methodology and implementation. Call us today at (914) 967-9421 to find out how we can help.