Robert Sorensen

SORENSEN--Dr. Robert C. Trademark, market, and public opinion researcher, who applied social science to matters ranging from jury selection to trademark research, died in his Manhattan home at age 84 on Friday, February 22. Dr. Sorensen was a leading figure in the application of survey research to trademark litigation. He designed and administered opinion surveys to measure consumer perceptions, with special focus on public confusion over trademarks and product source. Dr. Sorensen provided expert testimony in over 70 cases in US District Courts, state courts, and proceedings of the Patent and Trademark Office and US International Trade Commission. Robert Chaikin Sorensen was born on September 7, 1923, in Lincoln, Nebraska. He earned his bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. (1954) degrees from the University of Chicago, all in sociology. Between 1952 and 1954, Dr. Sorensen was associated with the Operations Research Office of Johns Hopkins University and worked on psychological warfare efforts for the US Army in Korea. From 1954-1958, Dr. Sorensen was Director of Audience Research and Analysis for Radio Free Europe in Munich, Germany, where he led efforts to measure the effectiveness of broadcasts to five Eastern European countries during charged Cold War years which saw the suppression by Soviet forces of the popular uprising in Hungary. In 1959, Dr. Sorensen settled in New York City, where he worked as Director of Research for This Week Magazine (1959-1961), VP and Corp. Director of Research at D'Arcy Advertising (1961-1966), Executive Director at the Center for Advanced Practice (1966-1968), and VP and Corporate Director of Marketing at Warner Communications (now Time Warner) (1972-1974). In 1968, Dr. Sorensen formed Sorensen Marketing/Management Corporation, where he pioneered the application of public opinion research techniques to trademark infringement and intellectual property issues. From 1981 to 1993, he was a professor of marketing at Rider University. Dr. Sorensen was Chairman of the boards of both Childreach/Plan International (formerly Foster Parents Plan) and the Scandinavian Seminar, as well as VP at the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science, and Board Member at the Center for Advanced Studies of Religion and Science, Primary Stages, Inc. (a theatrical company), Girl Scouts USA, and Scandinavian Seminar College. His publications include a book on adolescent sexuality (1973), a book, Free Will and Determinism (1987, edited with Viggo Mortensen), and numerous professional articles. Dr. Sorensen is survived by his wife of 65 years, Marjorie, and two sons, Robert "Chris," of New City, NY, and David, of Copenhagen, Denmark. A daughter, Katherine, of Dallas, died in 2001. He is also survived by three siblings, Theodore, Philip, and Ruth, as well as four grandchildren, Hannah, Stephen, Nicholas and Axel.