{"id":1762,"date":"2011-03-08T01:48:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-08T01:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/S_TD\/wp\/2011\/03\/08\/conference-session-review-making-sense-of-u-s-and-french-patent-terminology\/"},"modified":"2017-03-13T18:42:26","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T18:42:26","slug":"conference-session-review-making-sense-of-u-s-and-french-patent-terminology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/S_TD\/2011\/03\/08\/conference-session-review-making-sense-of-u-s-and-french-patent-terminology\/","title":{"rendered":"Conference Session Review: Making Sense of U.S. and French Patent Terminology"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Joanne Archambault<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was in attendance for Bruce Popp<\/strong>\u2019s presentation on \u201cFrench Patent Terminology\u201d. I have only translated a few patents up to now, and hope to translate more in the near future, so I was keen to learn appropriate patentese from an experienced patent translator like Bruce.<\/p>\n

The first gem was a link (https:\/\/www.epo.org\/patents\/law\/legal-texts\/epc.html) to the European Patent Convention, a tri-lingual document with European Patent Office (EPO) rules and regulations. This is a valuable source for the terminology used in EPO documents\u2014you can search for a term in one language and then look at the parallel sections in the other languages. Bruce said, \u201cDon\u2019t translate EPO documents without it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then spoke about the definition of word phrases that occur in patents. An inventor can define whatever term they want, as long as any special meaning assigned to it is clearly set forth in the patent. The translator must translate this definition accurately, even if the definition set out in the patent is not consistent with current use of this word or phrase.<\/p>\n

Bruce also explained how articles (\u201ca\u201d vs. \u201cthe\u201d vs. \u201csaid\u201d) used in patents depend on whether there is an antecedent for the noun. On the first appearance of a noun \u2018a\u2019 (un, une in French) is used. On a repeat occurrence of the same noun, \u201cthe\u201d (le, la, les in French) is used; \u201cthe\u201d indicates that an antecedent for the noun exists. Finally \u201csaid\u201d (not \u201cthe said\u201d; ledit, ladite, lesdites in French) is used to insist that this noun was referenced before. <\/p>\n

One of the most useful things for me was Bruce\u2019s discussion of the distinction between open and closed lists. An open list is non-exhaustive; other items can be added to the composition. In French, the key words are \u201ccomprendre, comporter\u201d, which in English would be translated to \u201ccomprising, containing, including, characterized by\u201d. A closed list claims what is explicitly listed. In French, the key words are \u201cconsister\u201d, \u201cconstituer\u201d, which in English would be translated as \u201cconsisting of\u201d or \u201ccomposed of\u201d. And in between these two types of list is the middle ground type, which in French uses the words \u201cconsister essentiellement\u201d, \u201cayant\u201d or \u201cavoir\u201d. This limits the claims to the listed items and to those that do not materially affect the characteristics of the invention. Appropriate English wording for this type of list is \u201cconsisting essentially of\u201d, or \u201chaving\u201d. <\/p>\n

Bruce offered some general terminology advice. Avoid the use of \u201c\u2018s\u201d (the possessive\/genitive form) \u201cthe characteristic of the shoe\u201d is preferred over \u201cthe shoe\u2019s characteristic\u201d, and also avoid the use of \u201cits\u201d in patent translations. Other juicy terminology advice included making sure to translate these words correctly:
\u00c9ventuellement (FR) –> Optionally, which may (EN)
Classiquement (FR) –> Conventionally (EN)
Impliquer (FR) –> Involve (EN)
Introduire (FR) –> Insert, put in, add (EN)
Susceptible (FR) –> Suitable, likely (EN)<\/p>\n

And when you see \u201cselon revendication\u201d, the preferred translation is \u201cas claimed in claim\u201d; \u201caccording to claim\u201d is also an acceptable translation. If you come across \u201ccaract\u00e9ris\u00e9 en ce que\u201d or \u201ccaract\u00e9rise par\u201d, the preferred translation is \u201ccharacterized in that\u201d or \u201ccharacterized by\u201d. The use of \u201cwherein\u201d here is also OK.<\/p>\n

Overall, I learned a great deal during this presentation. Bruce is knowledgeable, has an easy-going presentation style and connects well with the audience. As a bonus, he has great stories to share about the consequences of badly translated patents.<\/p>\n

Joanne Archambault is a FR > EN translator with a PhD in Biology, who
specializes in Pharmaceuticals and Orthopedics. She works on a
variety of documents, including patents, in these areas.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Joanne Archambault I was in attendance for Bruce Popp\u2019s presentation on \u201cFrench Patent Terminology\u201d. I have only translated a few patents up to now, and hope to translate more in the near future, so I was keen to learn appropriate patentese from an experienced patent translator like Bruce. The first gem was a link (https:\/\/www.epo.org\/patents\/law\/legal-texts\/epc.html) to the European Patent Convention, a tri-lingual document with European Patent Office (EPO) rules and regulations. This is a valuable source for the terminology used in EPO documents\u2014you can search for a term in one language and then look at the parallel sections in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[255],"class_list":["post-1762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/S_TD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/S_TD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/S_TD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/S_TD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/S_TD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/S_TD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1922,"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/S_TD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762\/revisions\/1922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/S_TD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/S_TD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ata-divisions.org\/S_TD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}