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Trademark Survey Experts

Consumer research for trademark litigation

We are independent survey experts who help attorneys assess consumer perception and litigation risk. Our specialty is trademark survey work: likelihood of confusion, secondary meaning, consumer perception, and related IP and false advertising disputes.

These cases often depend on how people understand a name, mark, product package, label, or other marketing material. Survey evidence lets the case move past argument and intuition.

Discuss Your Survey Matter

Our standard
Research that can be evaluated, challenged, explained, and defended

Consumer Survey Research for Trademark Litigation

We provide independent consumer survey research for trademark litigation, Lanham Act claims, false advertising, and related IP matters. Mark Keegan and Tony Donato lead the firm. We help attorneys develop, test, critique, and present survey evidence based on accepted research methods.

We measure consumer perception and tell you what the data can and cannot support. We also advise on case strategy, settlement posture, expert reports, rebuttal work, and testimony. The aim is never to make a case look stronger than it is.

Surveys Built Around the Legal Question

We design and critique surveys on these topics:

Likelihood of confusionStrength of the markSecondary meaningAcquired distinctivenessLanham Act claimsFalse advertisingConsumer perception and understandingPackaging, labeling, and marketplace presentationRebuttal of opposing survey evidence

Connecting Survey Design to the Legal Question

We help legal teams tie survey design decisions to the legal question the survey has to answer.

Mark Keegan

Testifying survey expert · Founding partner

Decades of litigation and survey experience, on Lanham Act claims, marketing, consumer behavior, trademark, and advertising disputes. He is the primary testifying expert on many matters involving consumer survey evidence, and has been accepted as a consumer survey expert in federal and state cases and trials.

His work covers the strategic questions: whether to survey at all, which methodology to use, how to define the universe, and how the results may be attacked.

Tony Donato

Survey consultant · Founding partner

Tony has consulted on complex litigation since 2004, covering research strategy, survey design, data analysis, and case management. He handles questionnaire development, respondent screening, fielding, analysis, and critique of opposing work.

Execution details can decide whether a survey is persuasive, vulnerable, or inadmissible. Together, Mark and Tony support the full life cycle, from early assessment through trial.

When Survey Evidence May Matter

Survey evidence can help when a dispute turns on how consumers perceive, interpret, or remember marketplace information. Questions a survey may answer include:

1Do consumers believe two companies share a source?

2Has a descriptive term acquired secondary meaning?

3Is a mark strong enough to support a claim?

4Do consumers understand a label or ad the way it is alleged?

5Does an opposing expert’s survey use a proper universe, control, stimulus, and question structure?

Not every case needs a survey. Sometimes the better choice is to critique an opposing survey, or to advise against doing research at all.

What Each Type of Survey Looks At

Likelihood of confusion surveys

Likelihood of confusion is one of the most common reasons attorneys look for a trademark survey expert. These surveys ask whether relevant consumers believe marks or companies are affiliated, connected, sponsored, approved, or from the same source.

A sound design reflects marketplace realities while minimizing bias. The universe targets the relevant consumers, the stimuli are fairly presented, and controls isolate unrelated factors. Questions avoid leading respondents, and the analysis separates real confusion from guessing or preexisting assumptions.

Secondary meaning and acquired distinctiveness

These surveys measure whether consumers link a term, design, or package to a single source, rather than seeing it as merely descriptive or ornamental. They need careful attention to the universe, the stimulus, the wording, and the interpretation.

Poor designs may overstate recognition, confuse familiarity with source association, or fail to separate brand meaning from general product awareness. We evaluate whether the research is likely to be useful and defensible, with the focus on the legal question and not surface-level awareness.

Strength of mark and consumer perception

Disputes may involve the strength of a mark, consumer recognition, or how people read claims, packaging, labels, and ads. These issues can affect liability, damages, injunctive relief, and settlement strategy.

Perception research can test recognition, claim interpretation, and whether a designation connects to a single source. It gives structure to questions that might otherwise rest on anecdote or competing assumptions.

Rebuttal of opposing surveys

Sometimes the main work is evaluating an opposing expert’s survey instead of running a new one. We assess whether it is methodologically sound, relevant to the legal issue, and open to rebuttal. Our critique checks for:

An improper universeBiased or leading questionsWeak or missing controlsUnrealistic stimuliAmbiguous response codingOverstated conclusionsFailure to test the legal issueChoices that inflate or distort results

A flawed survey can create the appearance of empirical support while missing the question that matters.

A Practical Partner for Litigation Teams

Trademark survey work combines law, research, language, marketplace behavior, and litigation strategy. A technically competent survey is not always a useful one. It has to answer the right question and hold up under scrutiny. We support litigation teams at every stage: case assessment, design, fielding, analysis, expert and rebuttal reports, deposition preparation, and trial support.

How much will a survey cost?

Every study is built around the needs of the case, so the cost depends on the design.

See Rates & Fees

Areas of Expertise

Do you have a case that involves trademark survey issues?

Contact our team to discuss whether new research, an independent survey critique, or rebuttal analysis fits your matter.

(914) 967-9421
info@keegandonato.com