[gnso-rpm-wg] Directly from INTA's website: What the TTAB has to say about sample size

Volker Greimann vgreimann at key-systems.net
Fri Sep 1 10:20:00 UTC 2017


I don't even see the small sample size as the biggest issue. The biggest 
issue is how the report draws conclusions from the data that was 
provided that are not borne out by reality, for example when averages of 
spending or registrations are presented as generally applicable.


Am 01.09.2017 um 11:48 schrieb Paul Keating:
> Jonathan,
>
> While i can appreciate your enthusiasm, the goal is to move beyond 
> individual opinion and attempt to locate fact based evidence.    The 
> INTA survey would fail any criteria taught in the most basic 
> statistics class.  The margin or error is so large as to render the 
> study conclusions meaningless.   It is all the more dangerous given it 
> having been issued by "INTA".  If it had been issued by any other 
> entity i am sure you would have laughed it out of the room
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 1 Sep 2017, at 09:54, jonathan matkowsky 
> <jonathan.matkowsky at riskiq.net <mailto:jonathan.matkowsky at riskiq.net>> 
> wrote:
>
>> George,
>>
>> This is not a tribunal subject to US federal law under the Latham Act 
>> or any other statute for that matter. The survey here speaks for 
>> itself and was very useful from our perspective.
>>
>> Personally I wish we as an INTA member could have participated, but 
>> our opinion would have been consistent with what I saw to be the 
>> majority of those surveyed.
>>
>> Jonathan Matkowsky, VP - IP & Brand Security
>> RiskIQ, Inc.
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 31, 2017 at 3:30 AM George Kirikos <icann at leap.com 
>> <mailto:icann at leap.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     Hi folks,
>>
>>     Before I went to bed, I made a note to myself to do a quick search to
>>     see what TM practitioners would do in their TTAB statistical studies.
>>     This morning, one of the first hits I found came from INTA's own
>>     website, see below. In particular, note the statements (from footnote
>>     147):
>>
>>     (a) "characterizing 62 interviews as “anecdotal evidence” that
>>     did not
>>     lend themselves to statistical conclusions"
>>
>>     (b) "finding 57 respondents raised a question “as to the overall
>>     validity of the survey results"
>>
>>     The INTA survey sample size of 33 is far below even those two
>>     examples, and was closest to the next example:
>>
>>     (c) "finding a survey of 25 pharmacists and doctors to be an
>>     insufficient sampling"
>>
>>     (start of excerpt, sorry for the formatting, footnotes are #144 to
>>     #147; easier to read the PDF I link to)
>>
>>     The Trademark Reporter (The Law Journal of the International
>>     Trademark
>>     Association), September-October, 2014.
>>
>>     https://www.inta.org/TMR/Documents/Volume%20104/vol104_no5_a5.pdf
>>
>>     C. Representative Samples (page number 1172)
>>
>>     Probability and nonprobability methods may be
>>     used to select the sample from the universe of possible respondents.
>>     However, if the sample of respondents is not representative of the
>>     universe from which it was selected, it will be accorded little
>>     weight.144 The number of respondents sampled must be large enough for
>>     the results to be reliable. The overall sample size for a survey will
>>     depend on the number of disputed marks tested and whether the survey
>>     includes any control groups. Surveys in Board proceedings often
>>     interview between 100 and 300 respondents about each mark or stimulus
>>     examined.145 In some instances, the Board has considered survey
>>     samples with fewer than 200 respondents to be small,146 and samples
>>     with fewer than 100 respondents routinely have been disfavored.147
>>
>>     And here are the footnotes:
>>
>>     144. iMedica Corp. v. Medica Health Plans, 2007 WL 1697344, at *5
>>     (T.T.A.B. June 7, 2007) (“We also find that the survey results are
>>     questionable because the survey did not fairly sample the universe of
>>     possible respondents and is biased in MHP’s favor.”) and Am. Home
>>     Prods. Corp. v. B.F. Ascher & Co., Inc., 166 U.S.P.Q. 61 (T.T.A.B.
>>     1970) (“[T]he persons to be interviewed were not chosen on the basis
>>     of a sampling technique but solely because they were known to opposer
>>     . . .”), aff’d, 473 F.2d 903 (C.C.P.A. 1973).
>>
>>
>>     145. Facebook, Inc. v.
>>     Think Computer Corp., 2013 WL 4397052, at *14 (T.T.A.B. July 23,
>>     2013)
>>     (“Dr. Ford supervised . . . interviews: 270 in the test cell and 272
>>     in the control cell.”); PepsiCo, Inc. v. Pirincci, 2012 WL
>>     2930650, at
>>     *7 (T.T.A.B. June 25, 2012) (“In total, 404 consumers participated in
>>     the survey . . . with 200 consumers participating in one of two ‘test
>>     cells’ and 204 consumers in one of two ‘control cells . . .’”); Sara
>>     Lee Corp. v. Mahmoud, 2007 WL 4663353, at *5 (T.T.A.B. Dec. 27, 2007)
>>     (“[S]urvey respondents in the test group (199 women age 18 and older
>>     from around the country) were shown a stimulus card . . .”); AVA
>>     Enters. Trading Co., Inc. v. Audio Boss USA, Inc., 77 U.S.P.Q.2d
>>     1783,
>>     1786 (T.T.A.B. 2006) (“A test group of 100 respondents [was] shown a
>>     card. . . . A control group of 100 respondents [was] shown a card . .
>>     .”). Note, the test group may include more respondents than the
>>     control group. See Anheuser-Busch, Inc. v. Mambo Seafood #1, Inc.,
>>     2008 WL 4674603, at *7 (T.T.A.B. Sept. 22, 2008) (“The survey was
>>     taken of 296 individuals, 200 of whom were exposed to applicant’s
>>     mark
>>     with the remaining 96 persons comprising a control group that was
>>     exposed to the fictitious mark . . .”).
>>
>>     146. 7-Eleven, Inc. v.
>>     Morrison, 2008 WL 2385970, at *13 (T.T.A.B. June 2, 2008)
>>     (finding 162
>>     survey respondents to be “small,” but according opposer’s survey some
>>     weight); Kohler Co. v. Kohler Homes, 2008 WL 4877069, at *9 (T.T.A.B.
>>     Nov. 4, 2008) (“[T]he number of actual respondents to the KOHLER
>>     HOMES
>>     and KOHLER ASSOCIATES ARCHITECTS surveys is small, i.e., 164 and 163,
>>     respectively.”).
>>
>>
>>     147. Clear Choice Holdings LLC v. Implant Direct
>>     Int’l, 2013 WL 5402082, at *8 (T.T.A.B. Aug. 26, 2013) (finding 90
>>     respondents for each mark tested to be “a small number”);
>>     Bridgestone/Firestone N. Am. Tire, LLC v. Silverstone Berhad, 2003 WL
>>     1559659, at *4 (T.T.A.B. Mar. 2003) (characterizing 62 interviews as
>>     “anecdotal evidence” that did not lend themselves to statistical
>>     conclusions); iMedica Corp. v. Medica Health Plans, 2007 WL 1697344,
>>     at *4-*5 (T.T.A.B. June 7, 2007) (finding 57 respondents raised a
>>     question “as to the overall validity of the survey results”); Am.
>>     Home
>>     Prods. Corp. v. B.F. Ascher & Co., Inc., 166 U.S.P.Q. 61, 62
>>     (T.T.A.B.
>>     1970) (finding a survey of 25 pharmacists and doctors to be an
>>     insufficient sampling), aff’d, 473 F.2d 903 (C.C.P.A. 1973); Guardian
>>     Life Ins. Co. v. England, 2002 WL 31173415, at *3 (T.T.A.B. Sept.
>>     2002) (finding it inappropriate to draw conclusions based on a survey
>>     with only three respondents).
>>
>>     (end of excerpt)
>>
>>     Of course, the above focused on sample size, but let's not forget the
>>     other part, about the non-representative nature of sample.
>>     Re-read the
>>     part above that said:
>>
>>     "However, if the sample of respondents is not representative of the
>>     universe from which it was selected, it will be accorded little
>>     weight"
>>
>>     That's exactly the second problem experienced with this INTA survey,
>>     as  previously discussed.
>>
>>     Q.E.D.
>>
>>     Have a nice day.
>>
>>     Sincerely,
>>
>>     George Kirikos
>>     416-588-0269
>>     http://www.leap.com/
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     gnso-rpm-wg mailing list
>>     gnso-rpm-wg at icann.org <mailto:gnso-rpm-wg at icann.org>
>>     https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/gnso-rpm-wg
>>
>> -- 
>> Jonathan Matkowsky
>>
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