Intellectual Property Litigation

MMR Strategy Group provides litigation surveys and survey rebuttals for intellectual property matters.

We have been retained in a wide range of proceedings to provide litigation surveys, analysis of survey data, rebuttals, and expert testimony.

Every engagement is managed by a credentialed partner who possesses substantial knowledge of relevant standards and guidelines from legal, research, and marketing sources. Our goal is to provide admissible, relevant, and objective evidence.

Our experience with Lanham Act surveys and/or litigation surveys includes issues such as the following:

Likelihood of confusion surveys
Reverse confusion surveys
Secondary meaning surveys
Dilution surveys
Other types of trademark surveys and trade dress surveys, such as descriptiveness and genericness surveys
Patent infringement surveys, particularly for damage assessment
Deceptive advertising surveys
False or misleading advertising surveys
Claim substantiation surveys
Surveys measuring consumer response to pricing
Other litigation surveys measuring consumer habits, opinions, and purchase behaviors

MMR Strategy has experience with Federal Courts in a wide variety of venues, as well as the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), and the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Better Business Bureau.

Click here to read a decision issued by a Court of Appeals commenting on a secondary meaning survey conducted by Dr. Bruce Isaacson.

Not All Litigation Surveys Are Created Equal

In many types of intellectual property matters, a survey may be used as evidence of consumer attitudes or activities. These “litigation surveys” measure factors such as confusion, reverse confusion, dilution, secondary meaning, responses to advertising, responses to pricing, and other items. Read more

How Trademark Surveys Measure Secondary Meaning

Among the concepts that survey experts measure in intellectual property matters, secondary meaning is one of the more straightforward. A secondary meaning survey typically seeks to assess whether a “significant” or “substantial part” of the customer class uses a mark to identify a single source. See sources such as McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition for more information on this definition. Read more

How Trademark Surveys Measure Likelihood of Confusion

Trademark surveys are frequently used to measure the likelihood of confusion, particularly in trademark infringement matters. Surveys represent a reliable method of providing evidence, particularly when paired with well-conducted and well-presented expert analysis and testimony. Read more

For more information, read Using Surveys to Estimate Damages in Patent Infringement Matters.