Translating the Language of Patents

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.

List of figures

List of tables

Preface

Acknowledgements

List of acronyms and abbreviations



Corpus of laws, rules, regulations, international agreements and administrative instructions
What is a patent?
When is a patent?
What does a patent do?
When is a patent a source text for translation?
The Person Having Ordinary Skill In The Art (PHOSITA)
Prior art
International Search Report (ISR)
Internationally agreed Numbers for the Identification of bibliographic Data (INID) codes
Title of the invention (code 54)
Grantee, holder, assignee, or owner of a patent (code 73)
The patent application
Disclosure of the invention
Global consensus on disclosing inventions
Language uses invoked to perform the requirements of the law
The Enablement Requirement
Embodiment vs. example
The Best Mode Requirement
The Claims Section
The Single-Sentence Rule (SSR)
Direct object function
Claim structure
Transitional verbs comprising vs. consisting of (EN), comprenant vs. constituer de (FR), umfassen gegenüber bestehen aus (DE), que comprende vs. consistente en (ES)
Claims recitation rules: Backward only and in the alternative
Antecedence and ascertainability of claims terminology
Plain meaning
The Lexicographer Rule
Format, numbering, spacing, and fonts
Representation of recited claims: The Claims Tree function at Espacenet
Abstract of the invention
Patent drawings
Design vs. utility patents
Plant patents
Units of measurement
The literal translation requirement
Translations filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office
Translations filed at the European Patent Office
Translations filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization
Patent search tools at the World Intellectual Property Organization
Patent search tools at the European Patent Office
Patent Public Search portal at the United States Patent and Trademark Office
Patent-related bioethical controversies

Appendix I Instructions for obtaining circled font for INID code numbers

Appendix II List of cited patents

Appendix III European patent dataset

Appendix IV Cited US Code, rules, regulations, and administrative instructions

Appendix V Cited EPO Convention rules, guidelines, and administrative instructions

Appendix VI Cited WIPO Treaty rules, standards, regulations, guidelines, and administrative instructions

Index