7 Questions to Ask Your Chosen Patent Translation Company

The right patent translation company can mean the difference between a seamless, on-time delivery and a process riddled with errors that waste resources and expose your company to risks. Here are seven essential questions to ask your patent translation services provider before starting your partnership.  

It often takes years, sometimes decades, between developing a product and successfully bringing it to market. To safeguard your investment, it is crucial that you collaborate with a specialized patent translation company who understands your industry and technology. By selecting the right patent translation services provider today, you can centralize patent translations, control costs, and ensure consistency while maintaining accuracy.  

In this blog, we will cover seven essential questions to ask when selecting a patent translation provider. 

7 Questions to Ask When Selecting a Patent Translation Company:

1. What is your patent translator vetting process?  

Patent translators must be highly specialized in your industry and have a proven track record of patent translation or patent drafting in your field. Ask your patent translation company to outline its patent translator vetting and selection process, including ensuring translators stay up-to-speed with relevant industry and translation standards.  
  

2. How do you select a patent translator for each project?  

Translator placement is critical and should be chosen very carefully. At Questel, we go beyond general industry background to look for patent translators with more granular experience. Once we identify the best translator(s) for a particular client, we strive to maintain consistency by assigning the same translator whenever possible. This approach allows our translators to become intimately familiar with the science and specific terminology used in your applications, ensuring greater efficiency and accuracy. In addition, our patent translation services are designed to cover a wide range of needs, including all office action translations. With our cost-effective ‘Reference Quality’ patent translation service, for example, you don’t have to break the bank when translating documents you don’t intend to publish, such as prior art that has been identified by international search reports.   

3. Will the patent translation company be available when we need them?  

Look for organizations that can take on your project on your schedule. There are a limited number of patent translators—especially for specific sciences or industries—so selecting a patent translation provider with a deep network of qualified translators and, ideally, a network of foreign agents is essential. The translation company should also take the initiative to understand and adapt to your preferred patent translation process.  
  

4. How do patent translators maintain consistency within and across documents?

Patent documents should leave little room for interpretation, so a patent translation company must produce airtight translations. Word choices take on added significance to ensure your IP is protected against challengers. Through Questel’s centralized workflow tool, our translators can access enhanced client-specific glossaries, style guides, and translation tools that establish consistency. They can also collaborate online to resolve issues from the start of the project.  
  

5. What is your quality control process?  

Every translation company’s quality control (QC) method will vary, so it's crucial to ensure your chosen partner maintains a rigorous process. Understanding your chosen partner’s QC approach and methodology also lets you know the amount of time they will require to deliver accurate translations.  

For example, at Questel, we use a centralized workflow platform to monitor deadlines to ensure we always deliver on time and apply ISO-certified standards and industry-leading quality metrics to the review and revision process, ensuring continuous quality control.  
  

6. What security measures are a patent translation company held to?  

Patent documents contain valuable secrets that can have wide-reaching consequences for your company if exposed. Your translation partner must maintain exacting standards for file transfer, data protection, file tracking, secured client-access portals, and more, primarily when patent translators work remotely.  
  

7. Will our documents be filing-ready?  

Every patent office has unique requirements for accepted file types, including how the information in each document is ordered and formatted. At Questel, we support international filing, including PCT national phase entry and EP Validation, so we understand how to comply with standards set by each patent office and can also gather and organize the required formality documents on your behalf. Eliminating the extra step of reviewing and re-ordering the structure of your documents saves costs and ensures your documents are accepted the first time around.  

Key Benefits of a Combined Foreign Filing and Patent Translation Company

While many translation partners are in the market, only some can offer a streamlined process integrating patent translation into your foreign filing process. Questel combines fixed, all-inclusive and competitive patent translation rates with the ability to integrate the translation process into our international filing solutions to guarantee a streamlined process with one invoice and a single point of contact.  

You send us instructions, and our international filing management service handles the entire workflow. We work directly with foreign agents to track deadlines and alert you with timely notifications, ensure filing instructions are accurate and manage the delivery of formal documents so you can focus on more important matters.  

Why Choose Questel for Your Patent Translation Needs?

Choose a patent translation company with decades of IP expertise. Find out more about our centralized approach to patent translation, or contact us to discuss your needs. 

About Questel

As a leader in intellectual property services, Questel is committed to providing innovative, budget-friendly solutions for patent research, trademark services, and more. Our patent translation services are designed to cover a wide range of needs, including all office action translations. With our cost-effective ‘Reference Quality’ patent translation service, you don’t have to break the bank when translating documents you don’t intend to publish, such as prior art identified by international search reports. We pride ourselves on our dedication to quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction, ensuring that your intellectual property is protected every step of the way.

Choose a patent translation company with decades of IP expertise. Find out more about our centralized approach to patent translation or contact us to discuss your needs.