MODIFICATION
D -- TRADEMARK IMAGE SEARCH MARKET RESEARCH
- Notice Date
- 4/25/2018
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 541519
— Other Computer Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), Office of Procurement, P. O. Box 1450 - Mail Stop 6, 600 Dulany Street, MDE, 7th Floor, Alexandria, Virginia, 22313-1450
- ZIP Code
- 22313-1450
- Solicitation Number
- RFI-TM-IMAGE-SEARCH-3118
- Archive Date
- 6/26/2018
- Point of Contact
- Carlos C. Carter, Phone: (571)272-1149, Erica E. Fetter, Phone: (571) 272-9513
- E-Mail Address
-
carlos.carter@uspto.gov, Erica.Fetter@uspto.gov
(carlos.carter@uspto.gov, Erica.Fetter@uspto.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICE REQUEST FOR INFORMATION TRADEMARK IMAGE SEARCH MARKET RESEARCH This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It is not a solicitation and does not constitute a request for quotation or proposal. USPTO is not seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals. Telephone calls requesting a solicitation will not be accepted or acknowledged. Participation in this effort is strictly voluntary. No entitlement to payment will arise as a result of submission of a response to the RFI. UPSTO is not liable for costs (direct or indirect) associated with the preparation, submission, or responses to this market survey or any costs associated with the USPTO use of the information. USPTO will not reimburse the respondent for any costs incurred with responding to the RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested respondent’s expense. 1. BACKGROUND The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) examining attorneys conduct searches for conflicting marks as part of the official examination of an application after a trademark application has been filed. In evaluating an application, the examining attorney conducts a search of USPTO records to determine whether there is a conflict between the design mark in the application and a mark that is either already registered or pending in the USPTO. The principal factors considered in reaching this decision are the similarity of the marks and the commercial relationship between the goods and services identified by the marks. To find a conflict, it is not required that the marks and the goods/services be exactly the same; instead, it is sufficient if the marks are similar and the goods and or services are related such that consumers would mistakenly believe they come from the same source. Similarity in sound, appearance, or meaning may be sufficient to support a finding of likelihood of confusion. External customers can also conduct a search prior to submitting an application in order to save time and/or money. While many trademark applicants are represented by legal counsel and/or hired professional search firms who provide advance search reports, over 30% of applicants are pro se (not represented by counsel) and rely on the free, publicly-available USPTO search system to determine if their mark would cause conflict with a previously filed mark. The search system is also used for many other reasons beyond the likelihood of confusion search. Internal users search for applications featuring common data elements such as examples of marks of various types for use in training materials, and for examples of goods and services that have been accepted by USPTO in the past. Because of the myriad of reasons why a search of USPTO’s records could be conducted, maximum flexibility and ease of use in constructing searches while using multiple criteria is essential. Currently, USPTO’s homegrown X‐Search application is the trademark search system used by internal employees. The Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) is the public-facing version. Both products rely on the same Live Link Discovery Server (LLDS) by Open Text. The LLDS search engine is a viable solution but the frontend applications (i.e. TESS and X‐Search) are redundant and use outdated technologies. 2. PURPOSE USPTO is issuing this Request for Information (RFI), as part of its market research, to explore available image search products and to understand the current existing methods used by the industry and academia to evaluate design marks. USPTO also seeks to assess vendor capabilities and interest. 3. OBJECTIVES USPTO considers the objectives below to be major elements for successful execution of any future requirement and is seeking information that will demonstrate how to achieve the following objectives: a. Ability to accomplish a large, varied, and complex design mark search; b. Retrieve required information in a format that is readable and usable by both USPTO internal and external users; c. Ability to search by U.S. Trademark Design Codes IAW USPTO Design Search Code Manual ( http://tess2.uspto.gov/tmdb/dscm/index.htm) ; and d. Ability to search U.S. Trademark Design Elements. A Commercial Off- the-Shelf (COTS) solution is preferable. As the number of trademark filings increases, the ability of examining attorneys and our customers to review and filter this content is becoming increasingly strained. USPTO is interested in information technology (IT) solutions that can assist in narrowing the broad information base to manageable sizes for more careful individual review by both internal employees who can be given extensive training and external users who may not understand the nuances of searching. USPTO welcomes any comments related to this requirement, even if they do not relate to an item contained in the draft. 4. RESPONSES Responses to this RFI shall be submitted by e-mail to Carlos Carter, Contract Specialist, at Carlos.Carter@uspto.gov and must be received at USPTO no later than 01:00 PM EST on 06/11/2018. The submission should be no longer than thirty (30) pages and shall include the requested information in the tables below. The total page count includes all other information provided (i.e., graphs, charts, etc.). Font size should be 12 point, Times New Roman, single sided, and prepared in Microsoft Word. Fold out charts for tables or graphics are allowed with a limited size of 11”x17” and each foldout counts as a single page and also counts towards the total page limit. Charts and graphics must be in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Visio, or PDF format. Q uestions to this RFI will be accepted and should accompany your response. USPTO will respond to any questions by 05/7/2018 01:00 PM EST utilizing FedBizOps. Company Overview No. Question 1 A brief description of your company. 2 Socio-economic status, business size, and size standard/applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. 3 Dun & Bradstreet (DUNS) number. 4 Website address. 5 Government and commercial clients. Please include the scale of contracts by dollar value, full time equivalent employees (FTEs), or number of annual contacts 6 Respondents shall designate a primary and one alternate point of contact within the company (Name, Address, Email, and Telephone). Company Capabilities No. Question 1 What are your specific capabilities in providing a Trademark Image Search capability? 2 Is your system usable by both internal and external users with consistent results in a readable format by all users? What format(s) can the search results be provided? 3 Does your system support multiple image formats like PNG, JPEG, TIFF? 4 Does your system support combination search on an image as well as its metadata? 5 Does your system have an option to crop a portion of an image and perform targeted search for specific areas of an image? 6 Does your system provide confidence levels for matching results? Is it possible to adjust accuracy and/or confidence levels to filter out results? 7 Does your system learn from past data and improve accuracy over time? Please provide examples or a detailed explanation 8 How is your system impacted by images with drawings? 9 Does your system have the capability to filter noise (e.g., text) from image search? 10 Does your system handle images of different scale and rotation appropriately? 11 Does your system provide options to search similar images by image features such as color, texture, edge, etc.? 12 Does your system support real-time searches across millions of images? Please provide applicable performance benchmarks and/or results 13 Do you have past performance metrics in terms of accuracy for standard image datasets like Imagenet 14 Can your system search by U.S. Trademark Field Codes? Please explain the process that you would use for this search 15 Does your system have the capability to automate the design search code assignment? (See http://tess2.uspto.gov/tmdb/dscm/index.htm.). Can you demonstrate this capability with objective results? 16 What risks do you foresee in providing a Trademark Image Search capability to USPTO? List each with mitigation strategies. Proprietary information submitted in response to this RFI will be protected from unauthorized disclosure as required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). All proprietary markings should be clearly delineated. The respondent shall identify where data is restricted by proprietary or other rights and clearly mark it accordingly. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the United States Government to form a binding contract. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor www.fbo.gov for additional information pertaining to this RFI. 5. CLARIFICATION OF RFI RESPONSES To fully comprehend the information contained within a response to this RFI, there may be a need to seek further clarification from those respondent(s) identified as capable. Based on the requested information provided, USPTO may request a capability demonstration. Capability demonstrations should include all data that may inform a future trademark image search requirement. The USPTO reserves the right to seek additional information from those vendors identified with unique solutions that are determined to be beneficial to the USPTO.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/PTO/OPDC20220/RFI-TM-IMAGE-SEARCH-3118/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 600 Dulany Street, MDE, 7th Floor, Alexandria, Virginia, 22313-1450, United States
- Zip Code: 22313-1450
- Zip Code: 22313-1450
- Record
- SN04901398-W 20180427/180425231109-9570a52768cc4f2fe3cdfa2686db15c6 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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