Trade Dress Infringement Expert Witnesses

Jennifer Vanderhart is a PhD Economist responsible for providing a range of services, including litigation support services, and economic consulting. She specializes in applied Econometrics and Microeconomic Analysis, including theoretical and empirical analysis in the areas of intellectual property, antitrust, breach of contract, international arbitration proceedings, and commercial damages.

Dr. Vanderhart's clients include companies in wide range of industries and retail sectors including education, computer hardware and software, retail merchandising, durable goods manufacturing, mining, tobacco, and financial services.

Prior to joining Analytics Research Group, Dr. Vanderhart was a Managing Director at FTI Consulting. She has also held positions at Exponent, Invotex Group, Navigant Consulting and LECG, and was an instructor at Texas A&M University in the departments of Economics and Management. She has published on valuation, damages and intellectual property and is a frequent speaker on these topics at conferences and lectures.

Litigation Support: Dr. Vanderhart has more than 20 years of experience in the evaluation and quantification of Economic Damages including claims arising from patent, copyright or trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation, contract disputes, employment discrimination, and claims of expropriation by foreign governments. She has testified in federal and state courts and in domestic and international arbitration proceedings.

Dr. Vanderhart has assisted companies in patent and trademark licensing negotiations, royalty investigations and calculations, and intellectual property and asset valuations. She has also testified in class action proceedings and as to the appropriate data cost-sharing compensation under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

Areas of Expertise:

Damages Calculations & Rebuttal Design Patent Infringement Breach of Contract Damages Statistical Regression Analysis Theft of Intellectual Property Economic Damage Measures Economic Damage Models Trade Dress Infringement Trademark Infringement Lost Earnings (Economics)

IP Damages & Valuation Theft of Trade Secrets Telecommunications Damage Calculations Business Damage Damage Analysis Patent Damages Trade Dress (IP) Lost Profits Valuation

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Gabriele Goldaper has over 45 years experience in the Fashion, Garment, Textile Industry, as a retailer, manufacturer, consultant, and college instructor. Ms. Goldaper is a perceptive and articulate Expert Witness who has been involved in more than150+ Apparel Industry Legal Disputes. She has been deposed and testified in bench and jury trials and arbitrations, for both defendants and plaintiffs.

Ms. Goldaper has owned her own clothing manufacturing company and has held key executive positions in major public and private companies in Southern California. She has been a Management Consultant to over 200 new, failing or growing apparel companies, and completed assignments for USAID in Romania, Egypt, El Salvador, Moscow, Thailand and Bulgaria as an apparel expert.

Ms. Goldaper is a 30-year member of the faculty at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.

Areas of Expertise Include:

• Copyright Infringement and Trademark Cases
• Opinions on Originality and Substantial Similarity
• Fabric/Print Design, and Origin Issues
• Garment Construction and Design issues
• Customs, Practices and Operations of Clothing Business
• Financial Conditions, Valuations and Financial Matters
• Issues with Manufacturing Contractors/Factories: Domestic and Off-Shore
• Wholesale Distribution to Retailers and Internet Sales
• Quality Standards/Specifications used in Production of Garments

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Michael Nranian, JD, MBA, MS has over 30 years experience focusing in Product Development, Intellectual Property, Patent Litigation, Legal and Technical Compliance, and Product Liability Litigation. He is a licensed attorney in Michigan, Texas, & the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Mr. Nranian is a Six Sigma Black Belt, Professional Engineer, & Certified Project Management Professional. He has an in-depth background and education in Law, IP, Electrical, Chemical & Computer Engineering, & Business. He has testified extensively as an expert witness in depositions, hearings, and trials in state & federal courts.

Mr. Nranian conducts Product and Technology Analysis, Patentability & Prior Art Research,and provides Technology & Litigation Support for Intellectual Property. His litigation background includes patent infringement / non-infringement under literal infringement and the doctrine of equivalents, patent validity / invalidity, prior art, & file-wrapper estoppel, for both ITC and Federal cases, including Inter Partes reviews. He conducts analysis of patents and products, prepares claim charts, & expert witness reports. This includes testimony and document preparation for cases before state, and federal court jurisdictions, and the International Trade Commission and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Mr. Nranian is thoroughly familiar with all 101, 102, 103, 112, and other enablement and prior art arguments. His experience includes Technology Standards Boards and Licensing Authorities, Antitrust / DOJ, Technology Development and Transfer, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets, and Copyrights, Licensing, Unfair Competition/Trade, False/Deceptive Advertising, & Lanham Act Actions, & Class Actions.

His Product Liability Expert Witness litigation background includes all types of Safety Systems, Electrical Systems, Fires, Accident Reconstruction, and Evaluation of Alternative Designs for Automotive, Medical and other industries. He has over 29 years of experience in Automotive Safety Systems, Sensors, Seatbelts, Airbags / Curtains, Seats, Diagnostic Systems, Crash Recorders, Crash Pulse Analysis, System Diagnostic, Fault Codes, Structure (including roof-crush and door) and front, side & roll-over systems (including sensing and algorithm development) for domestic and international corporations. He is thoroughly familiar with all regulatory (including FMVSS), and corporate due-care requirements, & preemption arguments, occupant kinematics, & injury causation.

Rob Wallace has unique expertise in Trademark, Trade Dress, Copyright, Brand Identity and Package Design Infringement. For 35+ years, Rob ran one of the nation's top Brand Identity Strategy and Package Design Resources providing global branding expertise to Fortune 500 companies in virtually all CPG categories. His clients include P&G, Nestle, Pepsico, Unilever, Kraft, Colgate, The Home Depot, Brown-Foreman, Novartis, J&J and more than 50 market leading companies. Manhattan-based, Rob has been an expert witness for important litigation involving:

• Likelihood of Consumer Confusion
• Secondary Meaning
• Brand Valuation & Dilution
• Package Graphic/Structural Design
• Product Design
• Branding Industry Best Practices
• False/ Deceptive Advertising
• Corrective Advertising
• and all brand related issues.

Rob has commissioned literally hundreds of consumer surveys and is uniquely qualified to determine the results of all research. He has worked for attorneys on both the plaintiff and defense sides of his cases. He is effective and efficient with the average project report requiring between 10 and 12 hours.

Dr. Larry Chiagouris has a rare combination serving as a senior Fortune 500 executive and as an accomplished academician. He has provided expert testimony and written opinions on damages, marketing, advertising, intellectual property issues (including the use of survey research) for plaintiffs & defendants at major national & local firms.

Experience summary:

• Experience evenly divided between plaintiff and defendant engagements over 25 cases

• Several cases include elements of intellectual property issues

• Majority of cases involve elements of consumer behavior or survey research

• Majority of cases involve elements of advertising related strategies and tactics

• Majority of cases involve elements of Internet related tactics

• Majority of cases involve written opinions and depositions

• Written and oral testimony in several Federal District Court jurisdictions

• Engaged by both large multinational law firms and small boutique firms

• Class action cases evenly divided between plaintiffs and defendants

Selected by Agency Magazine as one of 10 best and brightest researchers. He brings extensive experience as a Senior Marketing, Branding and Research Executive responsible for directing major assignments for companies such as AT&T, Campbell Soup, Kraft, Miller Brewing, Peugeot, Pfizer, Prudential and Visa.

He has a Ph.D. in Marketing, is Past Chairman, Advertising Research Foundation and Former Director of the American Marketing Association.

CONSOR® Intellectual Asset Management has been a global industry leader in Intellectual Property valuation, expert witness services, monetization assistance, licensing strategies and more for the last 25 years. CONSOR's core areas of expertise are the valuation, management, and licensing of intangible assets. They are proud to be the only market-based consulting firm specializing in intellectual property.

Litigation Support - CONSOR® offers a variety of services to accommodate a wide range of IP litigation needs, including Expert Witness Services, Intellectual Property Valuation and Damages Analysis, Infringement and Confusion Analysis, Customs and Practices Consulting, and Bankruptcy and Disposition Support. CONSOR's areas of expertise cover all types of IP and intangible assets that can be the subject of litigation, including:

Patents & Technology Trademark & Corporate Brand Assets Sports & Events Licensing

Celebrities & Publicity Rights Copyrights, Media & Entertainment Assets Estate & Tax-Related Issues

Weston Anson, Chairman of CONSOR®, is a seasoned Licensing Valuation and Marketing professional with a long history of successful programs at firms such as Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Playboy Enterprises and Hang Ten International. He holds a Masters degree in Business Administration (honors) from Harvard University and is active in all of the major international trademark and intellectual property associations as a speaker and an officer.

As an important part of his career today, Mr. Anson is a world renowned IP Expert with testifying experience in the United Kingdom, Europe, and in state, federal, tax, bankruptcy, and probate courts in the U.S.; as well as in arbitration and mediation. In trial testimony, multiple depositions, and numerous rule 26 reports, his expertise has been established and reaffirmed. His litigation clients include roughly half of the largest 100 U.S. law firms.

Mr. Anson's notable cases range from: the largest trademark jury award in history to adidas of $304.6 million; the successful litigation of Woody Allen vs. American Apparel: a $5 million settlement in a right of privacy and publicity case; the Upaid Systems matter: a $70 million settlement in a computer/telecom patent case; and the Chevron-Donzinger/Ecuador case: decision barred Ecuador from collecting a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron. In addition Mr. Anson has been involved in other famous cases, such as the landmark Jesse Ventura case in which the eighth circuit court of appeals noted “Anson's qualifications are quite impressive, and certainly more so than those of some experts whose testimony this court has permitted.”

Jeff Anderson, Director of Valuation & Analytics at CONSOR®, performs Valuations of Intangible Assets and Intellectual Properties for corporate litigation and business / transaction purposes.

Mr. Anderson’s project work spans the full spectrum of the intellectual property realm. Industries worked on include: software, banking, entertainment, construction, retail, energy, and manufacturing. He has managed projects involving: valuation for litigation; sale / purchase valuation and negotiation; license structuring and negotiation; estate valuation; and valuation in expropriation and foreign markets.

Specifically, Mr. Anderson has assisted in creating and implementing financial models utilizing extensive ad hoc analysis and statistical methods in determining economic damages for trademark, copyright and patent infringements; breach of contract; tortious interference; and misappropriation of data / information. He has also assisted clients, their legal counsel, and in-house expert witnesses in deposition and trial preparation and strategy.

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Scott Hampton is a Certified Public Accountant and ABV valuation expert with over 30 years of accounting and forensic consulting experience.  He has given trial and deposition testimony regarding intellectual property damages on more than 100 occasions in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Washington D.C., and Wyoming.

Scott began working in the field in 1986 and has been engaged as an expert witness in more than 300 intellectual property cases in states across the country.  In over 30 years of consulting, Scott Hampton has developed a reputation as one of the leading experts on intellectual property valuation and expert testimony in cases involving related claims.  Mr. Hampton frequently provides expert testimony on economic damages arising from patent, copyright, trademark, and trade dress infringement; trade secret misappropriation; breach of contract; tortious interference; fraud; false advertising; unfair competition; cybersquatting; and unjust enrichment among others.

During his career Mr. Hampton has been retained by distinguished law firms including Baker & McKenzie, Latham & Watkins, Perkins Coie, Blank Rome, Reed Smith, Nixon & Vanderhye, Knobbe Martens, Sidley Austin, K&L Gates, Shook Hardy, Arent Fox, Dorsey & Whitney, Snell & Wilmer, McGuire Woods, McDermott Will & Emery, and many other outstanding firms.

Forensic & Investigative Services

• Economic Remedy Calculations
• Mediation Assistance
• Expert Testimony
• Fraud Investigations

We have the expertise to establish the impact of

Breach of Contract Disputes Copyright Infringement Fraudulent Behavior Patent Infringement Preliminary Injunctions Unfair Competition

Royalty Disputes Trade Dress Infringement Trade Secret Misappropriation Trademark Infringement Cybersquatting Tortious Interference

Scott D. Hampton is a CPA, ABV, CFF, and the founder of Hampton IP. He has over 30 years of forensic accounting experience valuing economic intellectual property damages due to patent, trademark, copyright, and trade dress infringement; misappropriation of trade secrets; breach of contract; tortious interference; fraud; false advertising; unfair competition; cybersquatting; and unjust enrichment among others.

Retained by 95+ Law Firms "I very strongly recommend Rhonda. She’s great to work with, and her work product is absolutely top-shelf." Greenberg & Traurig, LLP 

Trademark and Trade Dress Infringement | Surveys | Misleading and Deceptive Advertising | Licensing | Consumer Privacy | Commercial Reasonableness | Merchandising

Rhonda Harper MBA has provided consulting and testimony in cases involving trademarks and trade dress, advertising, branding, promotion, consumer privacy, consumer perceptions and behavior, innovation, product development and product launches, market analysis, market research, share and size, marketing effectiveness, corporate and marketing strategy, media relations, public relations, communications, and packaging.

Ms. Harper is routinely retained to formulate expert surveys, conduct rebuttal critiques, or construct rebuttal surveys to show the potential difference in results with properly designed and executed surveys. She has extensive experience and a deep understanding of survey design, sampling, question construction, data analysis, and methodological pitfalls that introduce bias or systematic error.

Located in Dallas, TX, Ms. Harper is a former Fortune 100 C-Suite Executive in marketing, branding, consumer research, strategy, licensing, public relations and advertising. Also a former Adjunct Marketing Professor, she has conducted  50+ intellectual property Lanham Act surveys, produced 75+ reports, been deposed 50+ times, and served in 20+ trials and arbitrations.

Leonard J. Backer has over 28 years of extensive and successful Seating, Tables and Furniture Industry experience in all key areas. Mr. Backer has been directly involved in the design and development of 250+ seating and table collections. He specializes in Private Label Manufacturing, Sourcing, and Product Development expertise.

Mr. Backer provides aggressive Expert Witness and Litigation Support services to attorneys, insurers and businesses for Plaintiff or Defense. He performs site inspections, detailed product reviews and incident analyses. He has worked with law firms and insurance companies to develop and coordinate strategies for various types of legal actions and lawsuits. Very strong hospitality background.

Mr. Backer has extensive experience with hotel, restaurant, cruise ship, retail store and senior living incidents. Personal Injury and Product Liability Cases. He provides detailed analyses, written opinions, and expert witness reports for clients throughout the U.S. Strong proven deposition and court testimony.

Areas of Expertise:

Furniture Based Disputes, Claims, or Legal Actions Chair Failures Seating Product Liability Personal Injury Purchasing Disputes Seating Product Design / Performance Issues Design Knockoffs

Sales Rep. Commission Disputes Designer Royalties Exclusive Distribution Agreements Product Evaluation Warranty Issues Product Launch Failures Private Label Development Agreements Evaluation of Management Performance

View Leonard Backer's Consulting Profile.

Nevium’s experts are trial-tested IP custom & practice damages experts who take a hands-on approach with all their IP litigation assignments. Whether you are in need of an expert to calculate economic damages as lost profits / unjust enrichment, give an opinion on specific business clauses in a license agreement or to leverage Internet and Social Media analytics to prove or disapprove infringement, Nevium has the experience and expertise. 

Litigation Support:Nevium works closely with C-Level executives, in-house and outside counsel to implement the best possible business strategy that intertwines with the legal strategy. Nevium is part of the team early on in the litigation process assisting with discovery requests and deposition questions. Nevium’s experience and expertise allows the managing attorney to focus on the legal issues knowing that Nevium is proactively taking care of the business side of the case. As experienced Intellectual Property Consultants, they have real-word, hands on IP management, monetization and valuation experience that plays out well in front of a judge and jury. Nevium professionals provide IP expert witness testimony related to economic damages in a range of lost profits, unjust enrichment, relief from royalty, reasonable royalty, relief from pay per click, corrective advertising and IP valuation. They author reports and provide testimony for federal and state court claims, arbitration, and mediation related to false endorsement, defamation, infringement and unfair competition. 

Litigation Expertise

Trademark Damages Copyright Damages Patent Damages

Publicity Rights Damages Defamation Damages Internet and Social Media Damages

Areas of Analyses Expertise

Lost Profits Relief from Royalty Reasonable Royalty

Unjust Enrichment Relief from Pay Per Click Corrective Advertising

Past Law Firm Clients

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld Gordon & Rees Higgs Fletcher & Mack Latham & Watkins Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

Dorsey & Whitney Greenberg Traurig Husch Blackwell McGuireWoods Winston & Strawn

Doug Bania, CLP, Founding Principal, has over a twelve years of expertise in managing, valuing and monetizing intellectual property and intangible assets. Mr. Bania has been a named expert in over thirty (30) cases, has been deposed seven (7) times and has testified at trial four (4) times. Mr. Bania was recently called upon to testify in the Pharrell Williams, et al. v. Bridgeport Music, Inc., et al., case as the Plaintiffs’ and Counter-Defendants’ Copyright Apportionment Expert testifying in the area of Damages and Apportionment. Mr. Bania’s industry experience ranges from apparel to automotive and publishing to music. Prior to founding Nevium, Doug Bania managed 100s of projects related to brands, intellectual property and the related intangible assets. He has assisted clients in intellectual property matters related to acquisitions, litigation, bankruptcy, tax, estate, family and marital disputes, and licensing.

 Brian Buss, CFA, Founding Principal, is a Chartered Financial Analyst with over two decades of experience providing intellectual property and business valuation, expert testimony and transaction advisory. Mr. Buss provide solutions for IP owners, attorneys and licensees both in the United States and overseas. He has a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Economics from Claremont McKenna College and completed the Executive MBA program at San Diego State University. An expert in valuation and economic damages calculations, Mr. Buss has valued copyrights, brands, patents and business interests across a wide range of industries from apparel companies to airports and from technology start-ups to global consumer products companies. Often engaged to analyze unique and proprietary assets and their economic impact and contribution to financial results, he works closely with clients and counsel to develop thorough yet clear and understandable analyses.

San Diego Office 415 Laurel Street, Suite 341 San Diego, CA 92101 Telephone: 858-255-4361 Email: info@nevium.com

Los Angeles Office 9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450 Beverly Hills, CA 90210 Telephone: 310-975-3145 Email: info@nevium.com

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Dr. Sher Paul Singh, Ph.D., CPP, principal at Packaging Forensics Associates Inc., specializes in the areas of Packaging, Machinery, Transportation, Logistics and Material Handling. Dr. Singh is a Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University and has over 26 years of faculty service in the School of Packaging and was the founding Director of the Consortium of Distribution Packaging Research. His faculty and corporate experience includes research and teaching in the areas of Packaging, Transportation and Logistics, Innovative Packaging Materials and Processes, Machinery, Robotics and Sustainability.

Dr. Singh has published over 200 papers, technical reports and book chapters. As an Expert Witness, he has testified in various lawsuits involving product liability, packaging, damage during transportation and injury from loading and unloading truck trailers and rail boxcars. Dr. Singh has provided his expert opinion in three hundred litigation matters. He has testified in federal, district and international courts. Dr. Singh has served as a legal expert to various Fortune 500 companies, federal agencies and international organizations like the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, USPS, United Nations, World Bank, European Union and ISO addressing problems related to Packaging and Transportation.

Areas of Expertise:

• Packaging Product Liability
• Warning & Markings
• Personal Injury with Packaging and Aerosols
• Loading and Unloading Injuries or Fatalities on Truck Trailers
• Damage Claims
• Intellectual Property - (Patents, Copyrights & Trademarks)
• Patent Infringement
• Fire / Flammability
• Hazardous Material Shipment & Use

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Mr. Sarabia has 30 years of experience in the following areas:

LICENSING: revenue projections, forecasts, standards, performance, breach, selection of licensees, damages;

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: analysis, due diligence, investigations;

COPYRIGHTS: substantial similarity, originality;

TRADEMARKS: secondary meaning, infringement, dilution, searches, investigations, due diligence, theft, trade dress, counterfeiting, rebuttal on damages;

APPAREL BUSINESS: contracts, manufacturing (local, abroad), import, export, sales, distribution, apparel copyrights, substantial similarity of apparel lines, theft and protection of designs, rebuttal on damages;

DESIGN PATENTS: defenses based on lack on originality, identify and analyze obviousness and prior art;

STANDARDS OF PRACTICE OF APPAREL BUSINESS LAWYERS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWYERS AND LICENSING LAWYERS

More than 40 years experience: defective packaging; unreasonably dangerous products; failure-to-warn; materials-handling; warehousing; cargo loading and securement; falling cargo; insurance claims for loss or damaged cargo; falling merchandise; patent infringement; trade-dress infringement. Has testified in state and federal courts and knows how to connect with a jury. Has worked for Plaintiffs and Defendants. Services: consulting; analysis; cite inspections; exemplar testing; opining; report writing; testifying. Long list of attorney references. Self-employed consultant. Former employee at Fortune 100 firms. Former university instructor. Many published articles and speaking engagements. Knows how to combine theory and practice.