Tag Archives: law

The future of patent translation / Patentübersetzung nach dem Londoner Übereinkommen

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Gemäß dem Londoner Übereinkommen, das 2008 in Kraft tritt, sollen weniger Übersetzungen für Patente anfallen:

Die Vertragsparteien des Übereinkommens verpflichten sich, auf die Einreichung von Übersetzungen europäischer Patente in ihre Landessprache ganz oder weitgehend zu verzichten. Für die Praxis bedeutet dies, dass Inhaber europäischer Patente künftig keine Übersetzung der europäischen Patentschrift vorlegen müssen, wenn das Patent für dem Londoner Übereinkommen angehörende EPÜ-Vertragsstaaten erteilt ist, in denen eine der EPA-Sprachen Amtssprache ist. In allen anderen Fällen ist eine vollständige Übersetzung der Patentschrift in die Landessprache nur dann vorzulegen, wenn das Patent nicht in der von dem betreffenden Staat bestimmten EPA-Sprache vorliegt. Die Einzelheiten sind in den Artikeln 1 und 2 des Übereinkommens ausgeführt.

Mit diesem Übereinkommen ist ein Durchbruch in der Sprachenfrage erzielt worden, der das europäische Patent künftig deutlich kostengünstiger machen wird.

The London Agreement is to come into force in 2008 and provides that fewer translations will be needed to register patents:

The Parties to the Agreement undertake to waive, entirely or largely, the requirement for translations of European patents to be filed in their national language. This means in practice that European patent proprietors will no longer have to file a translation of the specification for patents granted for an EPC Contracting State Party to the London Agreement and having one of the three EPO languages as an official language. Where this is not the case, they will be required to submit a full translation of the specification in the national language only if the patent is not available in the EPO language designated by the country concerned. For more details, see Articles 1 and 2 of the Agreement.

This breakthrough on the language issue will significantly reduce the cost of European patents.

RWS Holdings, a global translation company that does a large amount of patent translation, is not too concerned about this, according to the Scotsman:

The company added that an expected £1m hit from a new agreement aimed at reducing the translation costs of patents granted under the European Patent Convention, due to come into force in spring next year, would be offset by the company’s strong performance in the next financial year.

The IPKAT reports this with a dry remark (and further links):

A recent story in the Scotsman reports that RWS plan on taking a £1 million hit when the agreement kicks in, but don’t see this as being much of a problem with a turnover in excess of £46 million. The future is bright, apparently, and the loss of a few German and French translation jobs is nothing to be worried about.

Birth certificate by laptop / Geburtsurkunde schon im Krankenhaus

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I came across Birthtype birth certificate software because a colleague was wondering what ‘screen consent’ and ‘program consent’ on a Florida birth certificate meant. This may apply:

If you have a PC/Tablet you take it with you to the Mother’s bedside by signing on to your Wi-Fi you pull up the birth certificate you want and collect signatures. The parents, witnesses, and or notary can sign the data screen or the PDF form on the (PC/Tablet) computer. The signatures then become attached to the data. Since your TABLET IS A COMPUTER you can send the data with the signatures from the Mother’s bedside. If you are not using a signature pad, or PC/Tablet for signing you still can print out the forms and have them signed as you do now.

It sounds like ambulance chasers are being followed by birth certificate chasers. But then, the American hospital birth certificate, with prints of the baby’s feet, has been around for some time.

(The solution to the colleague’s query turned out to be something completely different: consent to the baby being screened by the Healthy Start Postnatal Risk Screening Instrument)

Necessity / Notstand

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The Vancouver Sun reports on the case of a homeless man who fasted for sixty days to attain spiritual perfection and then broke into a house, where the least of his criminal actions was that he ‘pigged out on cups of tea’.

He opened the presents looking for chocolates, raided the fridge and cupboards searching for delicacies, pigged out on cups of tea, chili, cream cheese and tortillas. He then puked and defecated in plastic bags before slipping into a stupor and curling up on the floor.

Still, Nelson convinced North Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Douglas Moss the foul behaviour was necessary or he would have died of cold and hunger.

Judge Moss acknowledged Nelson’s quest to reach spiritual perfection through fasting was “bizarre, to say the least” and noted the defence of necessity is rarely heard in Canadian courts.

Yet he acquitted Nelson.

The appeal court has now called for a retrial. Whether Jim Nelson attained spiritual perfection is not recorded.

I won’t go into the details of rechtfertigender Notstand and entschuldigender Notstand in German law. Here is something on it.

(Thanks to Legal Juice)

Translating general terms of business / AGB Übersetzen

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An interesting entry in the German law blog Obiter Dictum (a famous old German Latinism) on German lawyers translating general terms of business into German, and the weaknesses of the dictionaries: AGB from Germany.

Klagt der ausländische Vertragspartner dagegen in Deutschland, wird es auf die Übersetzung kaum ankommen, da bekanntlich die Gerichtssprache (wenn nicht sorbisch) deutsch ist und die Version in der fremden Sprache zu bloßen Informationszwecken ohne verbindlichen Inhalt deklariert ist.
Trotzdem möchte ein ausländischer Geschäftspartner natürlich wissen, welchen Regeln er sich unterwerfen soll. Deshalb werden viele AGBs ins Englische übersetzt – und um dem Handelspartner in den USA, in China oder Indien zu demonstrieren, mit welch deutscher Gründlichkeit hierzulande gearbeitet wird. Und weil manchmal das Geld (oder die Einsicht der Geschäftsleitung in die Schwierigkeit der Materie) fehlt, übersetzt nicht ein vereidigter Übersetzer, der sein Handwerk gelernt hat, sondern die eigene Rechtsabteilung, das Sekretariat oder – im schlimmsten Fall – der Praktikant. Das bißchen Vertrags- und Gewährleistungsrecht wird es in Brüssel, Baku oder Bogotá schließlich auch geben.

This blog will shortly be closing for a couple of weeks, so just a few brief remarks.

I like the thought of the certified translator knowing his or her stuff. Say no more.

Of course, a translator may not practise law. A lot of adaptation to other legal systems amounts to that, and presumably the lawyer may attempt it.

I normally translate contracts where the German courts have jurisdiction and the German-language version takes precedence. I would therefore think that ‘rescission’ or ‘withdrawal’ would not be such a problem if the clause in question becomes relevant.

There is some discussion of the difficulty of translating Nacherfüllung, Unternehmer or Niederlassung.

Oder er rätselt darüber, wie man ein dem common law in dieser Form nicht bekanntes Institut wie die Nacherfüllung so in Worte faßt, daß der Anwalt der Gegenseite sich nicht den Bauch vor Lachen hält oder das übersetzte Papier entnervt in den Papierkorb wirft. Die von deutscher Seite vorgeschlagene Übersetzung supplementary performance für die Nacherfüllung wird doch nicht tatsächlich identisch sein mit der ganz anderen Formulierung des Uniform Commercial Code, der ein Right to Cure a Breach of Contract kennt?

I would think Nacherfüllung is law in the EU and is called cure, which conveniently matches the US term. I don’t mind supplementary performance, though – I’ve got used to it.

Harry Potter leak / Strafbarkeit der Verbreitung des neuen Harry Potter

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The Times online (via Boing Boing) reports that it may be possible to trace the person who leaked the Harry Potter book in photos on the Web yesterday (the publisher, Bloomsbury, won’t confirm that this was genuine, presumably as a damage limitation exercise). The serial number of the camera is part of the EXIF data, and if the camera, an early Digital Rebel, has been repaired or registered, the number will be linked to a name.

However, there would probably be no criminal charges, as there was no commercial gain. Civil damages would be based on the loss in book sales.

If traced, the person who photographed the Harry Potter novel could be found guilty of copyright infringement, but would be unlikely to face criminal charges as the photos appear not to have been published for commercial gain, lawyers said.
“There are criminal provisions in copyright legislation, but they tend to be used in cases of obvious counterfeiting – such as selling fake computer games or DVDs in a car boot sale,” Mark Owen, an intellectual property partner at the London firm Harbottle & Lewis, said. “If Bloomsbury were to pursue an action, it would more likely be a civil case, in which case any damages would be assessed according to the loss in book sales.”

The Times calls the EXIF numbers ‘digital DNA’!

Some EXIF data (bottom left) from a Sony DSC-H5 (click to enlarge).

screenshw.jpg

French law weblog / Blog auf Englisch über französisches Recht

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French-law.net, subtitled French law in English, is a weblog started by Nicolas Jondet at Edinburgh University which describes itself as follows:

French-Law.net provides news updates in English on recent developments in French Law, focusing on Intellectual Property, Technology and Medical Law but also on private/commercial real estate law.
French-Law.net is a collaborative project which welcomes authors wishing to publish articles in English on any aspect of law originating from France or French-speaking countries.

(Via Inter Alia)