If you have created a wonderful invention, come up with a catchy and creative slogan or logo, or what the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) terms “creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce,” you will certainly want to protect that property so that no one else can steal your brilliant idea. Furthermore, because of today’s fast-paced and globalized digital marketplace, you will need to do it quickly to avoid the increasingly aggressive and brazen theft of intellectual property (IP) that has been occurring in recent years.
This is where the importance of patent translations to protect your intellectual property comes into play. When you need to patent or trademark your intellectual property, your first stop will likely be the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). However, that is not enough to ensure protection internationally.
Therefore, you will need to work with a number of other international patent offices in order to make sure your IP is fully protected. Of course, to do so, you will need patent and IP translation services. According to WIPO, companies spend more than $1 billion every year on patent translations, and this number has been growing steadily every year.
How Do I Get My Patent Translated?
Once you and your IP attorney have determined that patent translations are required, you will have a couple of different options for translating your patent. First, your attorney may have resources and/or partners in the target country (or countries) in your target country. However, this tends to be more expensive, as the attorney will usually add their own surcharge (as well as other middle-men).
The second option is to have your patent(s) translated by a professional patent translation agency during the patent prosecution phase. This will typically save not only on the translation costs themselves, but also the project management time that your attorney would likely tack on to their final invoice. These types of costs can easily add up, particularly when you are filing in multiple countries and need to translate your patent into multiple languages.
Prior to submitting your patent application(s) for translation, it is important that you discuss your filing deadlines with your attorney. You should also make sure your translation partner is also aware of the filing deadline; however, you should always request the translation to be delivered with time to spare, while still allowing your patent translation partner sufficient time to translate, edit, and proofread the final deliverable.
How Do I Choose a Reliable Patent Translator?
As anyone involved with patents and intellectual property (IP) already knows, the terminology, specialized legal jargon, and even the format of a patent is highly particular and specific. Moreover, the subject matter is almost always extremely technical, from pharmaceuticals to aerospace engineering, and everything in between. Therefore, not just any legal translator will do when it comes to translating your content.
While it is possible to find freelance translators to take on your project, it is normally a better idea to work with a company that specializes in patent and legal translations. This is especially true if you need to translate your patent(s) into multiple languages (and with different requirements and formats). By working with a company, as referenced previously, they will provide project management support as well as a multi-step quality control process that will ensure that there are no errors in the translations before delivery. Of course, even a minor error in a patent application (including the translated version) could easily cause your application to be rejected or incur significant additional legal fees.
To find a translation company that specializes in patent and legal translation, and understands the importance of patent translations, you should definitely ask if they have experienced, professional patent translators and subject matter experts (SMEs), and in which technical fields. It is also highly recommended that a technical translation provider should have an international quality standards certification, such as ISO 9001:2015. This indicates that they follow industry-standard protocols for quality management.
Conclusion
Latitude Prime has extensive experience in the patent prosecution and IP space, and we understand the importance of patent translations to protect your intellectual property. We manage our clients’ direct, PCT, and EP validation filings, along with all prior art, office actions, or other patent filing needs, in dozens of languages. We can also provide both certified translations (for filing purposes) as well as for informational purposes, depending on your needs for patent translations.
To find out more about our end-to-end patent translation services, please feel free to contact one of our experts at (888) 341-9080 or info@latitudeprime.com.
