Trademark Survey Expert – Bethesda, MD

When your intellectual property litigation in Bethesda, MD calls for a trademark survey expert, look no further than Keegan & Donato Consulting.

About Us

Keegan & Donato Consulting is a specialty research consultancy located in beautiful Rye, New York. We provide a comprehensive suite of services, including consulting on litigation strategy for both plaintiff and defendant clients, consumer research studies, expert reports, testimony in trademark and trade-dress litigation, testimony at deposition and/or trial, and rebuttal of opposing parties’ surveys when applicable.

With more than 25 years of combined experience in the field, principals Mark Keegan and Tony Donato have developed surveys for and collaborated with firms that manage some of the largest trademark portfolios in the world, such as Schepisi & McLaughlin, P.A. in New Jersey,  Giampolo Law Group in Philadelphia, Hogan Lovells in Washington, DC, Arnold & Porter LLP in San Francisco, and Riemer & Braunstein LLP in Boston.

Do You Need a Trademark Survey Expert?

A survey is a valuable tool in trademark litigation because it provides insight into actual consumer perceptions, often when no other scientific evidence is available, and may help you build a stronger case.

You may decide to proceed without survey evidence.  Perhaps the client cannot afford to invest in a survey. Perhaps your pilot survey produced insufficient results. Or, perhaps your adversary presented a flawed consumer survey that you hope a rebuttal expert can critique without having to conduct another survey.

It can be hazardous, however, to proceed in a trademark infringement matter without survey evidence that is designed and executed by trained independent experts using sound methodologies.

In Valador, Inc v. HTC Corporation, 1:16-cv-1162 – Dist. Court, E.D. VA (2017), for example, the plaintiff alleged that the defendant, one of the world’s largest cell phone makers, violated its trademark on 3-D rendering software (“VIVE”) by marketing a virtual reality headset with a similar name (“HTC Vive”).

To support a likelihood of confusion claim, the plaintiff hired a consultant who claimed to be an expert in marketing, marketing research, and conducting market surveys, but who turned out not to be qualified.

The Court excluded the survey results in their entirety, determining that the expert was “not qualified to present his proffered opinions,” and finding that the survey “(1) failed to evaluate the proper universe of respondents; (2) did not replicate market conditions; (3) neglected to use a control group; (4) eschewed the recognized methodologies for conducting trademark confusion surveys; and (5) asked improperly leading questions. These fundamental flaws, taken together, render the survey so unreliable as to be inadmissible.”

If you are in the midst of IP litigation in Bethesda. MD, or elsewhere in the U.S., discover how a survey expert can help you prove or disprove trademark infringement. Get in touch with Keegan & Donato Consulting at (914) 967-9421 today.

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