Sociological expertise is a tool to identify the attitude of the population or population groups to certain matters, mainly used in legal proceedings. Sociological expertise is quite widespread in the practice of the Arbitration Courts, Rospatent and the Federal Antimonopoly Service, as well as in courts of general jurisdiction.
Sociological Expertise
A reliable instrument to prove your point in
a legal dispute
Many companies turn to sociological expertise in case of patent disputes, or when it is necessary to confirm or deny that a certain slogan used in an advertising campaign is reflected in public opinion (for example, “most dentists recommend”).
It is mainly used in the following cases:
- Assessment of similarities or differences (to the degree of confusion) of symbols and trademarks;
- Determining the presence / absence of misleading consumers (regarding the manufacturer, quality and properties of goods or services);
- Compliance of the trade mark promotion methods with moral norms and standards adopted in a society;
- Protection of the exclusive right to the means of individualization of a legal entity;
- Assessment of compliance with advertising legislation;
- Assessment of rightholders lesion and / or damage to business reputation.
Methods of collection of information used in the sociological expertise:
- Mass surveys (quantitative research);
- In-depth interviews (qualitative research);
- Focus groups (qualitative research);
- Expert surveys.
Tools of sociological expertise
The following questions can be used to establish the similarity or difference of designations and trademarks belonging to two different companies, and to protect the exclusive right to the means of individualization of a legal entity:
- Does the object under investigation have signs of the X company trademark?
- Is this trademark associated with company X?
- Goods with this trademark can be considered products by company X?
To prove or disprove the research hypothesis, the analyst relies on data from a specific sociological study. In this case, the survey is correctly interpreted as a special research method, the results of which cannot be reproduced or refuted without special professional training.
