Effective Use of Surveys in Trademark Litigation

Dr. Van Liere is a Senior Vice President at NERA with expertise in surveys, sampling, statistics, and market research. He has testifies on the surveys in a range of intellectual property, product liability, labor and antitrust matters. Recent trademark cases including in Apple v Samsung Electronics, Rosetta Stone v Google, and Frito-Lay North America v Medallion Foods. Prior to joining NERA, Dr. Van Liere served as a Principal, President, or Senior Vice President of market research firms and was an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee where he taught statistics, sampling, and survey research methods at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. He has a Ph.D. in Sociology from Washington State University.

John focuses on providing advocacy and advice concerning intellectual property and related matters, including protecting trade-marks, copyrights, patents, confidential information and misleading advertising claims under the Competition Act. He is certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a specialist in Intellectual Property Law (Trade Marks/Copyright).

John is the author of two textbooks dealing with trademarks, Brand Management in Canadian Law (1st Edition, 2004; 2nd Edition, 2006; 3rd Edition, 2010) and Canadian Intellectual Property Law and Strategy: Trademarks, Copyright and Industrial Designs.

John is also the author of Fox, Canadian Law of Copyright and Industrial Designs (3rd Edition, 2000; 4th Edition, 2003), the leading copyright textbook in Canada. John and the text have been referred to by both the Supreme Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal as an authoritative source.

Heather practices in the field of intellectual property litigation, including patent, trademark, and copyright litigation and enforcement. She has been involved in elements of civil litigation and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board proceedings, including appellate work in several circuits. Heather also specializes in trademark and copyright advising and strategy. She has experience in all phases of trademark prosecution, including the preparation of trademark clearance and availability opinions, preparation and prosecution of domestic and international trademark applications, and conducting appeals before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Heather is also experienced in prosecuting copyright applications for clients, including a broad range of visual arts, literary works, architectural works and software. This work also includes the preparation and negotiation of licensing and other intellectual-property related agreements, including publishing agreements.