Winners & Highlight Video

Grand Prize Winner

Veritas Ex Machina by CyberCrustaceans

$20,000

Student Prize & Crowdsource

SafeURL Inspector by Tech Titans

$10,000 & $2,500

Best in Class &

CINA Follow-on Research Project Prize

Legitima

$10,000 in research funding

Click for prize and eligibility details

Honorable Mention

Vision AI Authentication by Veracity Protocol

$1,000

Honorable Mention

THE CHALLENGE

The Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC), a research center within George Mason University (GMU), has partnered with private sector and US government organizations to crowdsource novel proposals aimed at disrupting trade in counterfeit goods. The best submissions will be practical, implementable, scalable, and demonstrable (i.e., using real-world data). Winning submissions must have direct applicability to stated challenges that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and other U.S. governmental agencies are actively working to overcome.

Bring Down Counterfeiting 2023 is asking you to prototype solutions that enable more effective public-private partnerships to facilitate or enhance data sharing and operational cooperation among the private sector and U.S. governmental agencies in the fight against counterfeit goods. We would like to challenge solvers to help us develop strategies to identify and counter new and existing trends in counterfeiting and piracy.

While any solution that directly addresses the statement above are acceptable, we are specifically interested in:

Technical and policy solutions for use in the fight to prevent counterfeit and pirated goods from entering the stream of commerce and reaching the hands of consumers, such as counterfeited product identification devices or advanced algorithms to secure supply chains and identify counterfeit goods. Solutions that thoughtfully address both policy and technical aspects will be judged more favorably than solutions that only address one of these aspects.
Tools to recognize the spoofing of official USG websites, trademarks, and other services meant to help intellectual property rights holders, particularly under-resourced individuals and small businesses, enforce their IP rights against counterfeit or pirated goods.

BACKGROUND

The Problem of Counterfeit Goods

Product counterfeiting is a form of illicit trade representing a significant challenge harming brand owners, entrepreneurs, consumers, and the global economy as a whole. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that pirated and counterfeit goods represent 2.5 percent of world trade—that’s $464 billion a year, reaching roughly the value of the gross domestic product of the country of Norway (The World Bank, 2021). Counterfeiters create unfair competition for legitimate businesses, hamper economic growth and erode social conditions. They are criminals that may also be associated with transnational criminal networks involved in multiple illicit trade forms including trafficking in narcotics, arms, persons, and wildlife. The circulation of counterfeit goods around the world also has deathful impacts on human health, collective and individual safety, and the environment. The manufacture, use, and disposal of counterfeited goods create harm due to the use of hazardous materials, lack of safety controls, and their large volume and diverse nature. The Internet has provided new opportunities and mechanisms for trading goods and services via e-commerce. At the same time, the openness of the Internet and the anonymity that surrounds many online transactions have facilitated the expansion of illicit trade of counterfeit goods.

The Internet has provided new opportunities and mechanisms for trading goods and services via e-commerce. At the same time, the openness of the Internet and the anonymity that surrounds many online transactions have facilitated the expansion of illicit trade of counterfeit goods. Counterfeiters take advantage of the internet openness to access global markets with minimal risk of detection and relatively low penalties. They are becoming increasingly technologically savvy to evade detection, authentication controls, or supply chain tracking systems. Combating illicit trade of counterfeit goods requires adaptable, multilingual, and multidisciplinary teams comprising experts from the public and private sectors, academia, law enforcement, and technology fields. Collaboration and the use of innovative tools to identify key nodes of global criminal networks, and the expertise in other areas (AI/AML) and protection of intellectual property (IP) rights can be positively impactful. Among them, data mining and analysis, machine learning, education and awareness programs can make huge in-roads in detecting counterfeits and disrupting supply chains.

Registration and Teaming

You must register to participate in this hackathon. Upon registration, you will be added to our Slack space.

Teaming:
There is no minimum or maximum number of team members for this challenge. In our experience, a team of five to seven individuals is ideal. It is up to each team to determine how many members to include, however, each team member must register for the hackathon and teams will be asked to select one or two presenters for each live demo or presentation.
Teams from academic institutions are encouraged to register! Finding a team advisor (e.g. professor) who will support and help guide the team is also encouraged. We can provide team advisors mentoring materials to help them support and advise their teams– just ask!
Ideal participants for this hackathon would be individuals already engaged with or having great interest on the topic of anti-counterfeiting, public and private sector anti-counterfeiting efforts, and relevant technology. Relevant fields of academic study might include, but are not limited to, patent/trademark law and technology, brand and product protection technology, supply chain studies and technology, anti-illicit trade and anti-counterfeiting studies, and law enforcement relating to illicit trade.
Participants are encouraged to find teammates with complementary skills in our dedicated Slack #teaming channel.
Eligibility
Participants must be at least 18 years of age.
To be eligible to win a cash prize in this hackathon, teams must include at least one US citizen or permanent resident of the United States, or one student enrolled at a US institution of higher education. Other submissions will still be judged, but cannot receive cash prizes.
Winning teams must designate one team member who is able to receive the prize(s) on behalf of the team. This team member must be able to complete an IRS Form W-9 in order to receive a cash prize on behalf of the team.

Mentors

Mentors will be available for teams that desire to consult with subject matter experts in anti-counterfeiting legal and enforcement regimes in the United States, technology, product development, and other areas.
The mentor’s role is to offer feedback and advice; mentors are not project leads. Team submissions must be driven by the team members from conception to completion.
Some solvers from academic institutions may also choose to have a team advisor from their institution support their team. Having a team advisor does not preclude solvers from drawing on mentors provided by this challenge. Finding, recruiting, and communicating with team advisors is the responsibility of the solver(s) alone. Team advisors should be identified on the solver’s registration form and/or their final submission.

PRIZES

See Registration and Eligibility section above for details about prize eligibility.
See below for additional prize and eligibility details pertaining specifically to the CINA Follow-on Research Project Prize.
Projects will be evaluated based on the judging criteria.
Winning teams must designate one team member who is able to receive the prize(s) on behalf of the team. This team member must be able to complete an IRS Form W-9 in order to receive a cash prize on behalf of the team.
All prizes are subject to change. Hackathon sponsors reserve the right to (a) cancel, suspend, or modify the challenge, or any part of it, for any reason, and/or (b) not award any prizes if no submissions are deemed worthy.
Prizes awarded under this challenge will be paid by electronic funds transfer or check and may be subject to federal and/or state income taxes. Any applicable taxes are the sole responsibility of the team.
GMU/TraCCC reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to (a) cancel, suspend, or modify the challenge, or any part of it, for any reason, and/or (b) not award any prizes if no submissions are deemed worthy.
Participants will compete for the following distinctions and prizes.

Grand Prize

$20,000

Best Overall Solution

Student Prize

$10,000

CINA Follow-on Research Project Prize

$10,000

in research funding

Click for prize and eligibility details

Additional Best in Class Prizes & Honorable Mentions

SCHEDULE

(Subject to change)

September 2023

September 11, 2023

Virtual Kick Off Event*
Watch the Kickoff Video

October 1, 2023, 11:59 pm EST - Deadline extended

First Submission Due

October 2023

October 3, 2023

USPTO Roundtable
(In-person/virtual | Alexandria, VA)
Register Here

October 5, 2023

Virtual Work Session hosted by TraCCC*

October 29, 2023, 11:59 pm EST

Final Submission Due

November 2023

November 4, 2023

Demo Day*
(In-person/virtual | Arlington, VA)

*Details about virtual and in-person events will be provided to registered participants.

Submissions RULES

Submissions must be in English
Submitted entries will not be judged by a judge from the same academic institution, company or organization.

First Submission

Due: October 1, 2023, 11:59 pm EST
Content: Narrative summary of the key features of your solution.

Final Submission

Due: October 29, 2023, 11:59 pm EST
Final Submission Template (Word | PDF)

Ready to submit?

Please complete this Challenge Submission Form.

Challenge Submission Form

The Final Submission must consist of the following components:
Completed Submission Form (Link will be provided to registrants)
Supporting documentation (PDF, 8-10 pages, template will be provided to registrants) addressing the following:
Solution Overview - Provide a 200 word abstract/ summary of solution
Value Proposition - What problem does your solution solve? What does your solution offer that existing solutions do not?
Potential Applications/ Use Case Scenarios - Describe how your solution could be used. In what settings? By whom? For what purpose?
Assumptions and Limitations - What assumptions did you have to make in order to design your solution? What are the limitations of your solution or what did you not have time to address?
Operational Requirements - What programs, APIs, data are required to run your solution?
Implementation Requirements - What policies, budgeting, resources would be needed for a potential end-user agency to adopt your solution?
Next Steps - If you had 3 more months to work on this solution, what would you do?
Video pitch of prototype or tool* demo (up to 4 minutes)
* A prototype should demonstrate the idea and how it works. It is a visual representation and should be functional in the sense that it might be clickable but does not require a database. It should NOT be a set of slides. Teams do not need to submit code but can if they desire to do so. A separate Slack channel will be provided for prototyping tips and suggestions for tools.

JUDGING CRITERIA

Submissions will be judged on the following criteria

Potential for Impact: How impactful could this solution be to USPTO, trademark holders or other public or private-sector entities engaged in this fight against counterfeiting? Is it realistic? Does it address a specific and critical pain point or existing problem? Was it designed with adequate consideration of current incentives, limitations, and existing structures?
Potential for Scalability: What is the potential for scalability? Could it be accomplished under current authorities and resources or would it require new legislation and appropriations? How costly would this solution be to bring to scale?
Innovation: How original is this solution? Does it set itself apart from existing solutions? Does it demonstrate outside-the-box thinking?
Design: Is this solution thoughtful and complete? Does the solution design demonstrate understanding of the selected end-user and consider ease of user adoption?

Additional Details

Please note all scheduled live event times are in U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT -04:00).
Plagiarism will disqualify entries. Properly cite all references.
Teams may not use generative AI, such as ChatGPT, in writing the narrative of their papers.
Any use of an AI chat program as part of the technical solution (including its use in the development of teams' coding) must be clearly mentioned and annotated.
Note that a team advisor is distinct from a mentor. Teams can draw on support of a professor or other staff from their institutions as a team advisor which does not preclude them from receiving mentoring from a challenge mentor in this challenge. Team advisors should be acknowledged (name and contact information will be required) on the team’s submission like other team members, but do not count as one of the five team members.
Please refer to the Terms and Conditions here

How can we combat the counterfeit trade?

REGISTRATION

Winners & Highlight Video

Veritas Ex Machina by CyberCrustaceans

SafeURL Inspector by Tech Titans

Legitima

Vision AI Authentication by Veracity Protocol

Team 3P2L

XSCAN

THE CHALLENGE

BACKGROUND

Registration and Teaming

Mentors

PRIZES

Grand Prize

Student Prize

CINA Follow-on Research Project Prize

in research funding

Additional Best in Class Prizes & Honorable Mentions

SCHEDULE

Submissions RULES

Emcee & Welcome Speaker

Demo Day Guest SpeakerS

Judges

JUDGING CRITERIA

Additional Details

FAQS

Sponsors

POINT OF CONTACT