USPTO: ~$7.87M for examiner "image search" AI — a federal contract with Clarivate (USAspending)
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO, Department of Commerce) awarded about $7.87M ($7,868,049) for AI to assist patent examiners with image searching. Recipient: IP-and-analytics firm Clarivate Analytics. After text search, AI adoption extends to images at a civilian agency.
Contract key facts
- RecipientCLARIVATE ANALYTICS (US) LLC
- Contract value$7,868,049 (≈$7.9M)
- Awarding agencyDepartment of Commerce
- Awarding sub-agencyU.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- Award typeDEFINITIVE CONTRACT
- Period of performance2024-02-15 〜 2027-02-14
- Contract ID (PIID)1333BJ24C00150001
Contract scope (original)
NEW REQUIREMENT FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO ASSIST PATENT EXAMINERS IN IMAGE SEARCHING.
Key points
- USPTO (Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce) procured AI to assist examiner image search
- Value ~$7.87M, period of performance February 2024–February 2027
- After text-search AI (a separate contract), search support extends to drawings/images
- Recipient: IP-and-analytics firm Clarivate Analytics (US) LLC
- An example of AI adoption at a civilian (non-defense) agency
A core step in patent examination is the "prior-art search" — checking an invention against a large body of existing material. Beyond text-based patent-search AI (see our separate article on the Accenture Federal USPTO patent-search contract), the USPTO is also procuring AI to assist image searching, showing that search support is expanding from text to drawings and images. Patents contain a great deal of image information — design figures, specification drawings — so making image search more efficient can affect examination quality and speed (the specific capabilities and performance are not stated in the scope, so we do not infer them).
Why it matters: the recipient, Clarivate, provides patent/academic data and analytics. It is also an example of AI adoption at a civilian (non-defense) agency.
Why it matters
A concrete example of AI adoption at a civilian agency (USPTO) widening from text search to image search. Useful for reading AI use in public administration and demand for AI in IP and search.
FAQ
Why "image search" AI for patents?
Is this different from the text-search AI contract?
Sources (primary)
This article is an independent organization based on the U.S. official spending data below. Verify the exact, latest details with the official source.
- USAspending (award details)
- Contract ID (PIID)：1333BJ24C00150001