Damages Surveys

We use surveys to measure how infringing marks, infringing product features, and other disputed elements may influence consumer behaviour, providing empirical support for damages calculations. Our survey experts apply several methodologies to do this, including:

• Asking consumers how their behaviour might have changed if they had certain information
• Purchase importance surveys, which ask consumers to rate the importance of each product feature that influenced their purchases
• Conjoint surveys, which present a series of choices between different hypothetical products and ask respondents which product they would buy. After consumers have made several such choices, an economic expert typically uses the data to determine what consumers are willing to pay for the product feature at issue.

All our litigation surveys are expertly designed to inform expert analysis of the relative contribution of specific product features, advertising claims, or other disputed elements to consumer decision-making, providing evidential support for damages and valuation arguments.

When patented products—and the reasons for purchasing them—are complex, it can be difficult to assess reasonable royalties. One method is to assess the contribution of the alleged infringement within a hypothetical reasonable royalty analysis.

Surveys that assess damages in this way can be helpful in this kind of patent infringement case. These surveys measure the importance of the product feature at issue to consumers, which in turn provides a basis for calculating the extent to which consumer demand for the product may be attributable to the patented feature, informing a reasonable royalty analysis (perhaps with the help of an economic expert).