Deere & Company v. FIMCO, INC.

In Deere's (plaintiff) trademark suit against FIMCO (defendant) over a similar green-and-yellow color scheme, Deere's own hired investigator surveyed customers and salespeople, with his contemporaneous notes showing both that customers reflexively associated the color scheme with Deere and that several salespeople stated customers did not actually confuse Deere and FIMCO equipment; Deere's formal expert report included only the customer-association findings, omitting the salespeople's contrary statements, and FIMCO sought to introduce those omitted statements at trial. Deere moved to exclude that portion of the notes as inadmissible hearsay.