Novetics provides attorneys and their clients with independent research and analytic insight on consumer perception, confusion, and marketplace behavior.
Douglas Olsen is a marketing researcher specializing in consumer perception, trademark confusion, survey methodology, and quantitative analysis. His expertise spans secondary meaning, Squirt surveys, and Eveready surveys, with particular emphasis on both point-of-sale and post-sale confusion. His work is designed to meet Rule 702 requirements and is distinguished by a rigorous focus on consumer attention states, the development of contextually grounded stimuli, and the construction of meaningful and defensible control conditions designed to withstand legal and methodological scrutiny.
In addition to his consulting and research activities, Douglas serves as a tenured Associate Professor of Marketing in the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, where he teaches graduate courses in marketing strategy, research methodology, and product and service innovation. He has received sixteen teaching awards, including the prestigious 2026 John W. Teets Graduate Teaching Award and the highly regarded 2024 W. P. Carey Entrepreneurship in Teaching Award. He has also collaborated globally with Adidas through executive education initiatives focused on digital retail performance and strategic customer engagement.
An active inventor and designer, Douglas has acquired a range of trademarks and holds both utility and design patents.
Link to CVDesign and execution of consumer surveys addressing likelihood of confusion (e.g., Squirt and Eveready). Research is grounded in published legal guidelines and consumer psychology to ensure it meets Rule 702 requirements.
Critical evaluation of opposing survey evidence, including survey design and administration, data analysis, and the contextual appropriateness of survey stimuli.
Clear, defensible expert opinions supported by rigorous research and analysis, including expert reports, depositions, and trial testimony.
Assessing Point-of-Sale and Post-Sale Confusion Evidence: An Ecological Validity Framework
A six-point ecological validity framework evaluates point-of-sale and post-sale confusion evidence across universe, stimulus, cognitive, temporal, comparative, and behavioral correspondence. It integrates established survey standards to assess whether research meaningfully represents consumer confusion.
Daubert Challenges Involving Trademark Confusion Surveys
A review of 25 years of Daubert decisions involving consumer surveys in trademark litigation was conducted, examining decisions at the individual expert level. Factors raised in bringing forth Daubert motions are examined.
Demonstrating Nothing: Statistical Analyses to Indicate Low Confusion Is Present
A non-technical introduction to methods that consumer confusion is absent. This paper examines statistical methods, better suited to demonstrating that any observed confusion is negligible.