Recommended Reading: "A Comparative Empirical Analysis of Online Versus Mall and Phone Methodologies for Trademark Surveys"

Hal Poret, of InfoGROUP/ORC in New York City, offers for your beach-reading pleasure, an article in the latest Trademark Reporter entitled "A Comparative Empirical Analysis of Online Versus Mall and Phone Methodologies for Trademark Surveys," 100 Trademark Reporter 756 (May-June 2010). [pdf here].


To quote Mr. Poret: "This article uses actual data from ... surveys to explore the many questions that arise concerning the reliability of online surveys in comparison with their well-accepted mall-intercept and telephone counterparts. Can the procedures designed to control the online process be as effective as the procedures used in mall-intercept and telephone interviewing? Are the differences among mall shoppers, telephone respondents, and online survey takers likely to result in substantively different responses to the same survey stimuli and questions concerning trademarks or trade dress? Do the criticisms most commonly leveled against online methodologies actually translate into any appreciable defects in the survey data that merit viewing online surveys with greater skepticism or affording them any less weight as evidence on trademark issues? A mere handful of surveys cannot fully answer these questions. Nevertheless, a comparison of results from trademark surveys using both the Internet and another methodology sheds light on the reliability of online surveys, the issues likely to be raised by courts and adversaries, and the facts to consider when deciding whether or not to use online research methods."

Mr. Poret concludes that, based on the three surveys discussed in his article, "properly designed and conducted online surveys can be as reliable as traditionally accepted telephone and mall-intercept surveys."

[This article is Copyright © 2010 the International Trademark Association, and is reprinted with the permission of The Trademark Reporter®, Volume 100 (May-June 2010).]

Text Copyright John L. Welch 2010.