As you evaluate trademark survey experts to assist you with litigation in Omaha, Nebraska, or elsewhere in the nation, consider a firm like Keegan & Donato Consulting that will meet the courts’ standards for design, execution and analysis.
The vast experience of Keegan & Donato Consulting includes conducting consumer surveys to test a wide variety of Lanham Act claims, such as likelihood of confusion, strength of mark, secondary meaning, acquired distinctiveness, trade dress, and others, false and deceptive advertising, consumer perception, and expert witness testimony on consumer survey, marketing and economic issues.
Principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato offer more than 25 years of combined experience and education in consumer-based survey research and data analysis in the context of intellectual property disputes, and follow a solid methodological foundation in survey design, execution and presentation.
The Value of Hiring an Expert
Consumer surveys are routinely used to evaluate central issues in trademark infringement cases. Though their introduction as evidence is common, they are not all accepted by the courts or accorded evidentiary weight.
The following examples illustrate how important it is 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.
In Troublé v. Wet Seal, Inc., 179 F.Supp.2d 291 – Dist. Court, S.D. New York (2001), the court excluded the survey results offered by the defendant in their entirety. “Given the lack of a proper universe and sample, the poor choice of location, the lack of proper stimuli, and questions that have little or no relevance to issues in the case, the Court finds that the prejudicial effect of [defendant’s] survey substantially outweighs its probative value.”
In Malletier v. Dooney & Bourke, Inc., 525 F.Supp.2d 558, 569-70 (Dist. Court S.D.N.Y; 2007), the Court excluded the evidence and testimony of all three of the plaintiff’s likelihood of confusion and dilution survey experts and two of the defendant’s three experts on the basis that the surveys were unreliable, plagued by significant methodological flaws, and that “any probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice and misleading the jury.”
The capabilities of Keegan & Donato Consulting include state-of-the art survey designs that are probative of the relevant issues in each case, are capable of targeting specific consumer populations with appropriate universe selection and sampling frames, and feature cutting-edge rotation and randomization of hundreds of question types with customizable complex skip and display logic when appropriate.
We can also help you analyze the economic, financial or technical complexities of your case; assist in your assessment of different case strategies; determine which 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. These services can have a significant impact on your client’s case.
When you are litigating a case in Omaha and need a trademark survey expert, consider Keegan & Donato Consulting, which has the training and expertise to design and execute consumer research studies properly. Get in touch with us today at (914) 967-9421 to learn more about our wide range of services.