10 STEPS TO CREATING SUCCESSFUL SURVEYS FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LITIGATION

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How to ensure your research study will stand up in court

Survey research is considered necessary to have as evidence in many Intellectual Property (IP) disputes.  Most judges expect one because a survey represents the voice of the customer.  In addition, if one side introduces a survey to support their argument, the other side must have one to provide equal leverage.

Here are ten steps to help create a successful survey for uses in IP litigation:

1. Determine what kind of survey is needed to best support your case in an IP dispute.
2. Hire two legal survey specialists: an experienced designer of legal research as your testifying expert, and an experienced research firm professional as your executional expert.
3. Carefully determine what universe of consumers to sample.
4. Design an unbiased survey in terms of sample and questionnaire wording.
5. Execute the survey using the necessary quality control procedures.
6. Use double-blind interviewing, where neither the interviewer nor the respondent is aware of the client or the sponsor of the survey.
7. Validate the results by re-contacting a minimum of 75% of all respondents.
8. Code verbatim responses twice, using two different people as coders to compare results.
9. Keypunch the data twice to eliminate all errors, and ensure 100% verification.
10. Submit your survey findings via a written report or affidavit from the testifying expert.

For more information, contact:

Larry Herman, Senior Vice President

Target Research Group, Inc.

845-426-1200, ext. 27

larry.herman@targetresearchgroup.com