This book is a guide to translating the language of patents in view of avoiding costly translation errors. Errors that might hinder the examination process for granting patents, or that might make patents undefendable in a context of litigation.

The 42 sections of this book each identify different provisions of the law for their relevance to translation. These provisions govern language uses, right down to the use of punctuation. Each of the sections present findings, both in terms of the relevant provisions identified, and their specific significance to translation. Exemplified translations focus on French and English, but when there is a consensus across Intellectual property systems, multilingual parallelism is highlighted. Wherever relevant, provisions of specific rules and regulations are presented and exemplified in the three official languages of the European Patent Office (EPO), English, French, and German and three official languages of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), English, French, and Spanish.

Written by an experienced teacher, patent translator, and author of the blog, Patents on the Soles of Your Shoes, this is a rigorously researched, authoritative, and comprehensive guide for all professional translators working on patents, and for students and translators working in legal translation. Accompanying powerpoint slides including information on how to use this book in courses are provided here: Introduction to using Translating the language of Patents PowerPoints (PPT 185KB).

Françoise Herrmann, Phd, is currently a Lecturer at San Jose State University in California and at Kent State University in Ohio, thanks to the wizardry of online course delivery systems.