What You Need To Know About Translating Patents?
What are Patents?
Whenever someone invents or creates something, they have to make sure that others don’t steal their idea. In order to keep others from using or reproducing their invention, inventors get their idea or creation registered by the state. A patent is a form of intellectual property, a license given to an inventor by a government authority, that gives its owner the right to keep others from using, selling, or making an invention. Patents usually have a set period. In exchange for receiving the license, inventors have to publish enabling public disclosure to help future experts.
The patent scope defines the rights of the patent owner. If the application is of technical nature, then the applicant must come up with a terminology management system. These legal documents have an appropriate language and designated length. The legal fees can get very high if you hire an attorney to help you with your claim. The average cost in the US is $8,800. The amount can get higher if you hire a professional translator so you can submit your application in foreign countries too. However, you can get the services of a human translator at lower costs if you do your research before hiring them. But you should not turn to machine translation services to save money. Only a human translator can provide you results that will be accepted by the authorities.
How to Get a Patent?
The rules for obtaining a patent document are different everywhere. If you get your patent application approved by the European Patent Office, you will get intellectual property rights in every country on the continent. In America, the United States Patent and Trademark Office handles all the claims. If you prepare your patent application in the right way and fulfill all filing requirements, then you can avoid rejection.
You will have to prove to the authorities that you did not copy a prior art. If there are existing patents that match your creation then your application will be rejected. If there are any legal requirements to obtain a patent, then you should fulfill them too.
There is a unified filing process in various countries today thanks to the Patent Cooperation Treaty. An inventor can file a patent application according to the rules of the PCT. The corresponding PCT application will allow the member countries to check the claim and determine if the invention is actually a new idea. English and French are the two recognized languages for application filing under PCT.
Translation Services:
Whether you speak Chinese or German, Russian, or Portuguese, you will not be able to get through life without interacting with the speakers of a foreign language. Although people can manage to communicate with others through gestures, it is impossible to survive in this multilinguistic world without language translation services. A company from China that wishes to open its offices in South Korea will need the help of a Korean translation provider.
Without accurate translations, it will be impossible for companies to survive overseas. But language service providers don’t only help corporations, they also make the jobs of healthcare experts easier. Without quality translations, creators cannot get their patents accepted in foreign countries.
Patent Translations, Why Are They Needed?
If you follow technology news then you would have heard of Apple and Samsung fighting over patent claims and intellectual property rights. When a company or creator makes something, they have to get its sole property rights globally if they don’t want anyone else to remake or sell their creation. Globalization has made it impossible for creators to keep their inventions safe without getting them registered in different countries.
A translated patent is not a license in a different country. You can’t take a patent translated into the official language of a country and expect the state to accept your claim. But what you can do is to get your patent application translation from an expert. You can submit this application to the country of your choice and wait for them to evaluate your claim.
A small technical oversight can cause an inventor to lose the rights to their invention in a foreign country. But if the translation projects are handled by qualified human translators, then such an infringement of someone’s property rights can be avoided. The right and proper translation can convince an international audience about your ownership rights. If you hire legal professionals for the job who use tools like translation memory to improve their efficiency and have a clear understanding of the terminology used in official documents, you will get good results within a day.
What You Need to Know About Translating Patents:
A patent document is very important for an inventor. It not only gives them patent protection but also gives them the sole rights to their creation. But when such an important document has to be translated, a great deal of care should be taken. Although translation technology has come a long way, you cannot trust Google Translate with your patent information. If you don’t get accurate translations, your application will not be accepted by the authorities. It is important to hire the right expert who knows the value of translating patents and also has experience in the field.
Here are some things to keep in mind when translating patents:
1. Find a translation provider that has native experts of the target language in their team. Only a native expert can completely understand the target language.
2. Don’t try to handle this task yourself even if you have access to translation tools. Translation memory tools cannot help you if you know anything about the field.
3. Find a translation provider that handles projects for legal purposes. An original patent is a legal document, so, in order to get a quality translation, you will have to find the right experts.
4. Only hire experts that provide assistance in multiple languages. If they handle translation projects in leading languages like Korean, Japanese, English, then they will be able to provide you with error-free solutions.
5. Get quality assurance from the language service provider you are hiring. If their translation process follows all the necessary steps, then they will deliver quality content.
6. Hire a reliable professional translator so you can trust them with your patent information. If your patent file ends up in the wrong hands, you can lose the rights to your creation in a foreign country.
7. Make sure they have a quick turnaround time. If you have a priority date for the completion of the translation projects, only an agency with a quick turnaround time will be able to help you.
8. Consider the translation costs before you decide to go with a service provider.
9. Since a patent is a sort of legal evidence, it should be accompanied by a certified translation.
Why do businesses need patent translation?
When an application is approved by a foreign country, the inventor must submit patent information to the authorities as quickly as possible. But they cannot rely on Google Translate to translate technical terms accurately. This is why businesses have to hire a human translator to protect their industrial property rights. An approved foreign patent can be used for reference purposes by the authorities. It will help inventors in getting a successful patent in the country of their choice.
It is better for businesses to hire international patent attorneys. Linguistic assistance alone will not help them in getting through the application process. With the help of the attorneys, they can submit their legal claims to the authorities with full confidence.
What qualifies inventions for a patent?
Several factors qualify an invention for a patent, here are they:
- It must be a novel idea and similar patents should not be in existence already. If an invention is not something new and resembles prior art, its creator cannot become a patent owner.
- It should fall under the subject matter eligibility category of the current Patent Act. If an inventor is not sure about eligibility, then can get in touch with a subject matter expert before filing for a patent.
- An invention should have an important role in society. If it is not useful to the general public, then it won’t be registered by the state.
