What is Patent Translation? From Necessary Situations to Parts Possible with AI Translation and Difficult Parts, Plus Recommended Tools

1. What is Patent Translation?

1.1 What is Patent Translation?

Patent translation refers to the task of converting various documents involved in the intellectual property cycle—from patent application, examination, and maintenance of rights to license negotiations and infringement litigation—into different languages. This is not merely a "word-for-word substitution." It is the "localization of technical and legal documents" that accurately reflects the technical concepts of the invention and complies with the legal requirements of each country's patent office, making it a process directly linked to a company's international competitiveness.

In priority claim applications based on the Paris Convention and domestic phase entry via the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty), translators bear the dual responsibility of "accurately conveying technical content" and "complying with the laws of each country." The quality of the translation directly affects the cost of responding to subsequent office actions and the ultimate validity of the patent rights, requiring extremely precise translation of every single word.

1.2 The Three Areas of Expertise Required for Patent Translation

What distinguishes patent translation from other types of industrial translation is that it requires an extremely high level of three elements: "legal knowledge," "technical knowledge," and "precision in linguistic expression."

Regarding "legal knowledge," an understanding of each country's patent laws, examination guidelines, and unique formatting is indispensable. Next, in terms of "technical knowledge," the ability to correctly comprehend the invention's content—whether in cutting-edge mechanical engineering, chemistry, biotechnology, IT, etc.—and to construct logically consistent arguments is required. Most importantly, there is the "precision in linguistic expression." For example, in limiting the components of a claim, the distinction between "comprising" and "consisting of" can change the interpretation of the scope of rights; a single word choice can alter the legal protection range. Translators must possess not only language skills but also a "multifaceted expertise" that simultaneously assesses technical consistency and legal validity.

1.3 Recent Advances in the Use of AI Translation

In recent years, the use of AI translation has rapidly advanced even in the field of patent translation. AI translation refers to machine translation using artificial intelligence technology, where a neural network trained on a large volume of translation data automatically translates the input text. In the patent field, the prevalence of standardized expressions makes AI translation well-suited, helping to streamline the creation of initial drafts and the checking process. However, for parts requiring complex technical content and legal accuracy, confirmation and correction by human experts remain indispensable, and the mainstream approach is a collaboration between AI translation and human translators.

2. Situations and Documents Where Patent Translation is Needed

Patent translation plays an important role in both the application process for obtaining rights and the investigation process for monitoring and analyzing other companies' rights.

● Application and Rights Acquisition Phase

When Japanese companies seek to obtain patent rights abroad (domestic-foreign applications) or, conversely, when foreign companies aim to acquire rights in Japan (foreign-domestic applications), translation of the following legally effective documents is required.
・Patent Specification: Title of the invention, background technology, embodiments, and most importantly, the "Claims".
・Notice of Reasons for Rejection: Examiner's indications such as denial of novelty or inventive step.
・Written Opinions and Amendments: Arguments against the examiner and modifications to the application content.

These documents are an important step in defining the final scope of rights and require a high degree of accuracy.

● Investigation and Analysis Phase

There are situations where investigating official gazettes from various countries is necessary for formulating intellectual property strategies and responding to other companies' rights.
・Technology trend surveys and invalidity material investigations: These are investigations conducted to confirm novelty before filing or to invalidate other companies' patents.
・FTO surveys (Freedom to Operate investigations): These confirm whether your company's products infringe on other companies' patents.

In these investigations, it is necessary to quickly grasp the content of a vast number of foreign publications, and especially in the initial screening stage, AI translation contributes to streamlining the workflow.

3. Parts of Patent-Related Document Translation That AI Translation Can and Cannot Handle

AI translation is not万能, and in practical work, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between the "areas it excels at" and the "areas that should be handled by humans."

3.1 Parts of Patent-Related Document Translation That AI Translation Can Handle

The logical structure unique to patent documents and the repeatedly used set phrases are areas where AI translation excels.
・Legal terms and set phrases: Formal expressions, exemplified by the "Claims" section, can be processed by AI with high accuracy, significantly reducing the workload associated with draft translation.
・Information screening: When extracting necessary information from hundreds of published documents, the immediacy of AI translation becomes a powerful tool. In the process of quickly determining the necessity of content and identifying important sections, AI translation can be said to be an indispensable support role.

3.2 Parts of Patent-Related Document Translation That Are Difficult for AI Translation

On the other hand, it is difficult for AI to handle decisions related to the success or failure of securing rights on its own.
・New terms and hallucinations: There is a risk that AI will generate incorrect translations for new technology terms not included in its training data.
・Judgment of technical consistency: The current AI is insufficient in its ability to verify the consistency between complex diagrams, formulas, and text.
・Strategic judgment: Only humans can interpret and differentiate translations that capture the inventor’s intent regarding how broadly to define the scope of rights.

The current optimal solution can be described as a collaborative model that utilizes AI translation as a tool for information comprehension and initial draft generation, combined with post-editing by professional translators (MTPE) for important documents related to the final determination of rights.

4. For AI Translation, "MTrans for Office" Is Recommended

4.1 About MTrans for Office

There is an AI translation tool called "MTrans for Office" that allows easy translation of various business documents, including patent-related documents. MTrans for Office is an AI translation add-in integrated into Microsoft Office's Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, providing a convenient tool that enables translation of Office documents in their original format as used daily. It employs neural machine translation technology, achieving natural and accurate translations by considering context. Even for highly specialized documents such as patent specifications and technical documents, translation work can be carried out directly within Office files, allowing the introduction of AI translation without significantly changing existing workflows.

• • Direct Translation within Office
  No need to move files or copy and paste. You can perform translation tasks directly from the familiar interface, making effective use of experts' time.
• • Choose from 4 Translation Engines
  You can select the most suitable engine according to your purpose or specialty from DeepL, Google, Microsoft, and ChatGPT (OpenAI).
• • Pre-registration of Proper Nouns
  By pre-registering company names, product names, and technical terms, it prevents mistranslations of specialized content and ensures accurate translations.
• • High Security
  It allows for the safe translation of highly confidential documents, making it ideal for important materials handled by in-house experts.

>Easy Translation Software for Office, MTrans for Office

4.2 Post-Editing (MTPE) Service

When translating important documents such as patent-related materials, relying solely on AI translation may leave concerns about accuracy and nuance. In such cases, we recommend using Human Science's "Post-Edit (MTPE) Service."

• • Thorough Checking and Correction by Professional Translators
  The results of AI translation (MT) are carefully reviewed in detail by professional patent translators to ensure technical accuracy and legal validity. This minimizes mistranslations, unnatural expressions, and legal risks.
• • Speedy and High-Quality Service
  Combining the speed of AI translation with quality assurance by experts. We provide high-quality translations with shorter delivery times at a lower cost than traditional translation. This service is especially ideal for large volumes of documents or when delivery is required within a short timeframe.
• • Reliable Support System You Can Trust
  We offer meticulous support tailored to your requests and usage, including terminology unification and application of style guides. We respond promptly to any questions or revision requests after translation, ensuring a system you can use with confidence.

>Post-Editing (MTPE) Service