If you are in the midst of IP litigation in Miami or elsewhere in the U.S., discover how a trademark survey expert can help you prove or disprove likelihood of confusion or trademark infringement. Keegan & Donato Consulting can provide the assistance you need.
Keegan & Donato Consulting provides service to attorneys practicing in federal and state courts, before arbitration panels, the TTAB, the NAD, and other specialty venues. Principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato offer clients more than 25 combined years of proven survey methodologies, deep operational insight, and extensive industry experience.
We provide expert research, analysis, affidavits and reports on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants in support of trademark infringement litigation, and have collaborated extensively on cases involving business, marketing, and financial issues.
Our Consumer Survey Specialties
Keegan & Donato Consulting designs and executes consumer surveys to ensure that the evidence you introduce in your trademark infringement case will hold up to scrutiny from courts and opposing experts.
Confusion: One of the foremost purposes of a trademark is to prevent consumer confusion. With a mounting number of brands competing for share of mind in the marketplace, however, some confusion is inevitable. A well-executed standard or custom survey from Keegan & Donato Consulting can help you assess whether consumers are indeed confused.
Secondary Meaning: Descriptive marks are not typically protectable as trademarks unless they have acquired a secondary meaning. We design consumer research surveys that target relevant consumers in your client’s market and help you determine the extent to which consumers associate a contested mark with one or more sources.
Strength of Mark: The “strength” of a mark has a bearing on the legal protections available to a mark holder. In general, fanciful, arbitrary, and suggestive terms are considered inherently distinctive and are afforded various trademark protections. Descriptive marks are unlikely to achieve trademark protection because they lack sufficient distinction to be associated by consumers with one source.
Dilution: Trademark dilution occurs when an infringing party uses a famous mark in a way that tarnishes the mark’s reputation for quality or dilutes its strength by blurring its distinctiveness. Consumer recognition of a famous mark can be measured directly by a survey.
False Advertising: Issues raised in the Lanham Act, such as false advertising or labeling, are well-suited to testing through consumer surveys by addressing the ways in which consumers interpret – and misinterpret – names, symbols, and other marks used by businesses in commerce.
Trade Dress: Trade dress, like a trademark, is protectable under the Lanham Act. Conducting a consumer survey can help you gather the evidence to prove whether the trade dress in question has established secondary meaning or is likely to cause confusion in the marketplace.
Trademark surveys can be used to test a wide range of Lanham Act claims. When you need a trademark survey expert in Miami, take advantage of the extraordinary expertise of Keegan & Donato Consulting. Call us at (914) 967-9421 to find out how we can help. We can deliver intelligence quickly and within a wide range of budgets.