Trademark and Deceptive Advertising Surveys: Law, Science, and Design

Surveys have become perhaps the standard form of evidence on consumer perception in cases involving trademarks and deceptive advertising. Yet it is far more difficult to produce a well-designed survey than is commonly understood. Trademark and Deceptive Advertising Surveys offers practical tools for recognizing and appreciating good survey methodology and distinguishing valuable evidence from its counterpart.

Focusing on the various issues that trademark surveys address, this compendium discusses a critical design or analysis topic that an attorney who is presenting, defending, or critiquing a survey must deal with. It brings together the viewpoints of academic and legal experts on surveys and survey methodology, combining both theory and practice in a single resource. Using both actual and hypothetical cases, the authors explain how the courts have addressed these issues and offer strategic guidance on how to identify important issues, understand options, and the optimal way the issues should be handled. Topics include the use of surveys in litigation involving trademark and deceptive advertising claims; pilot tests and pretests; selecting the survey universe; various legal questions, ranging from the common issue of likelihood of confusion to secondary meaning, fame and dilution; use of controls, both fundamentals and design issues; responding to survey results; and Internet surveys.