Utah has become a hub of global innovation, with 2014 exports totaling $12.3 million, according to the World Trade Center Utah. In fact, the state is one of the few with a trade surplus, estimated at $5 billion annually. The growth in international business has resulted in a 35 percent increase in patents filed domestically and internationally over the past five years, with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office showing 1,374 filed from Utah companies in 2014 alone. Subsequently, the volume of patent applications needing translation to and from dozens of languages also increases.
The success and enforceability of international patent applications depends, in large part, on the quality of the patent translation. The quality of the patent translation, in turn, depends on the quality of the translation service provider, which depends entirely on the quality of the people, processes and technologies employed.
It’s especially exciting to imagine the emerging technologies that can help simplify the patent translation process. However, while machine translation technology, for example, continues to advance, even the innovators of such technology concede that most programs aren’t sufficient to do more for IP translation than search for and review international patents (referred to as e-discovery or prior-art search) and act as an aid for human translators. That said, there are other technologies available to facilitate the process for human translators, whose specific language, culture and scientific expertise can help ensure the accuracy of the international patent applications.
Let’s consider three major technologies your translation service provider should be using to ensure the best quality translation and process:
• Terminology Man-agement. This technology streamlines the translation process by ensuring trademarked items, trade language, acronyms and other words used frequently within an organization are consistently translated into agreed-upon terms in target languages and even regional dialects. The starting point for terminology management is the creation of term databases standard to a specific industry or brand. The software then automatically provides a translation for recognized terms.
Additionally, the database captures additional terms and tracks the source of the term, the date the term was entered and which translator or translation team member entered the term. This technology is critical, since brands, technical and trade terms can rarely be translated literally, and each translator will make different interpretations and usually end up with different translations. Using the wrong word or phrase can lead to misinterpretation within the patent application, as well as the company showcasing itself as a newcomer to its target markets. Furthermore, the absence of this technology introduces risk that must be addressed with manual quality control measures, which results in increased labor and overhead cost.
• Translation Memory. Service providers should be using translation memory software to allow their translators to leverage previous translations in current projects. The software parses the material into segments, such as sentences or phrases, and will then match them in subsequent documents. Contextual matching technology looks for additional clues by recalling two to three sentences before and after the suggested match. As some suggested translations are based solely on a range of similar words, however, it is still critical that humans review the final product because the context of the translation must still be determined.
• Machine-Assisted Translation. This technology takes translation memory and terminology management a step — or even several steps — further by training a server to use contextual matching for an initial translation prior to human post-editing. As it currently stands today, machine-assisted translations are mainly used in e-discovery or prior-art search, as mentioned previously, or to assist human translators in their translations. In the later case, these machine translations require human post-editing — with some translations resulting in minor corrections and others needing to be restarted completely from scratch.
In addition to facilitating patent translations, using the most advanced technologies results in two especially valuable benefits:
1. Eliminating Errors for Proper Patent Protection. To ensure IP is protected with enforceable patents, translation quality must be high. Even one mistranslated word could affect the meaning and scope of a patent, opening it to litigation and potentially resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenues. Translation technologies help ensure consistency and, coupled with human translators, will help eliminate errors across the board, including original errors identified in one language version but not another.
2. Managing Costs. Whether seeking protection in one country or several, international patents are expensive — but to compete in a global market they are necessary. Translations aided by advanced technologies help create efficiencies that fit limited IP budgets, whether filing each patent application across numerous countries or filing a high volume of patents.
Overall, contracting with translation service providers that use the most recent and advanced technologies specifically tailored for foreign patent applications — along with quality people and processes — will help ensure high-quality translations to properly protect your IP. As a result, it will also help your company — and the others multinational companies in the state — continue to position Utah as a global business leader for years to come.
Jeremy Coombs is the senior vice president of operations at MultiLing, a Provo-based provider of intellectual property translations and related support services for foreign patent filings.
