Comprehensive Service

Clear, accurate translations of patent documents are essential for obtaining worldwide protection of your most important intellectual property assets. Lucida's patent translation service will give you word-perfect documents that precisely convey the technical content of your originals, taking into account the various formatting and claim-drafting styles required by patent offices around the world. Our experienced patent translators work mainly from English to Japanese and Japanese to English and cover all major technical fields.

There are four essential elements to first-class patent translation:

• Source language proficiency: The translator must completely understand the original document, both the technical content as well as the linguistic nuances. Lucida's translators are gifted linguists having years of experience translating highly complex patent documents.

• Target language proficiency: To increase your chances of registering a patent, it is essential to be able to express the content in clear, natural-sounding expressions in the target language. Our translators are highly competent writers in their target language.

• Technical knowledge: Even the best completely bilingual translator will have trouble translating your patent document if he or she does not understand the subject. It is essential to have field-specific knowledge of the subject matter. Lucida's translators have technical and scientific degrees covering all major disciplines.

• Patent knowledge: Patent documents are a peculiar hybrid of legal and technical terms, requiring the utmost care when translating. Lucida's patent translators all have years of experience translating patent applications for filing at worldwide patent offices.

We would urge you to look for all of these when choosing a translation company to handle your most important patent applications. Rest assured that Lucida satisfies all of these requirements.

Specialist Translators

Lucida's translators are carefully selected for their extensive experience and qualifications, in patent translation as well as in science and technology. They have degrees in the sciences, engineering, and technology, and have extensive experience of patent-related documents. You can see brief profiles of some of our patent translators here.

Quality

Our translators will carefully and accurately turn your source document into high-quality natural-sounding language and will format the document and claims to satisfy the requirements of the patent office where you will submit your application.

After completion, we carefully check that all content has been accurately translated, that terminology is used consistently, that the final document reads smoothly and logically in the target language, and that the formality and claim requirements have been met. All translated documents are checked by a native speaker of the target language, also having a background in technology and patents. We will usually attach a memo listing any problems found in the original, how they were handled, and any assumptions or major changes made by the translator. In some cases, we may contact you during the translation process to ask how you prefer to handle these issues.

You can rest assured that the final translation is a faithful and natural-sounding version of your original, allowing the examiner to get to the essence of your invention without being distracted by unclear and ungrammatical descriptions.

Competitive Rates

Our rates are among the most competitive you will find for this kind of comprehensive patent service. Details of our patent translation rates are shown below.

Fast Turnaround

We will respond to your inquiry within 24 hours, often within a few hours, with a detailed estimate showing the cost and schedule. The turnaround time depends on the length and complexity of your document. More details of turnaround time are shown below.

Technical Fields

Rates and Turnaround Time

We provide Standard and Express services. The Express service is roughly twice as fast as the Standard service. Please contact us if you need your document even sooner. Please also read the important notes below.

Notes

• These rates are based on the number of English words, in either the source or target document.

• The number of words is obtained using Microsoft Word's word count feature. Hyphenated compounds are counted as individual words.

• There is a 600-word minimum document length. (Shorter documents will be charged as for 600 words.)

• Any text in drawings or tables to to be translated will also be included in the word count.

• These rates are for translation only. Work for producing drawings, page layout, document formatting and so on will incur an additional charge.

• The turnaround times are in business days and do not include weekends, public holidays, and company holidays.

• Japanese consumption tax (10%) will be added to the rates shown above.

Process

1. Send us your document and place an order

Preparing your document

Text. We can work with your original patent document in any style, including Japanese applications, PCT applications, or US applications. We can reformat your document to match the style of the country where you will make the application. If a partial translation is required, please clearly indicate the portions to be translated.

Drawings. If you have any drawings to be translated, please send them together with the text.

Reference material. If you have any preferred terminology or similar documents that have previously been translated, please send them to us. It will help to ensure consistency.

File formats. For electronic submissions, we accept text in the following file formats: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), Rich Text Format (.rtf), plain text (.txt), and Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf). For drawings, we can accept most graphic formats.

Compressed files. If your files are large or if you need to send us numerous files, please compress them. We can accept most compression formats, including ZIP, Stuffit, LHA, TAR, GZIP, and BinHex. (Note: our online form can accept up to 10 attachments, maximum total size: 100MB.)

Sending your document

Use one of the following methods to send your document.

• Online form: Complete our online form to upload your files.

• Email: Please use this email template. Fill in the requested information and attach your files (maximum 25 MB). We can receive SSL encrypted email. Please contact us first to request our digital certificate.

Get quote and place order

Once we have received your files, we will send you an acknowledgement message by email. Then, within 24 hours and often within a few hours (excluding weekends and holidays), we will send you a quotation showing the estimated cost and schedule. Once you accept our quotation, we will start translating your document.

2. Translation

After carefully reviewing your original document and deciding technical terminology to be used, we will translate your document into the target language.

3. Quality control

We carefully check the translation by comparing it with the original to make sure that all content has been correctly conveyed into the target language, that technical terminology is used properly and consistently, that the language used is clear and logical, and that all formality and claim requirements have been met.

Where necessary, your translated document will be edited by a native speaker of the target language to ensure concise, natural-sounding expressions.

Together with the translated document, we will send you a memo noting any issues found by the translator or checker, how these issues were handled, and any assumptions or corrections made during translation.

4. Customer feedback

The customer reviews the translation and memo and, if necessary, gives feedback or suggestions for changes, such as preferred expressions and terminology. In such case, we will revise the translation according to your preferences and return the final version. Client participation is an important aspect to ensure the highest quality and accuracy of the completed document.

5. Invoicing and payment

We will send you invoice documents in any format you require. We usually request payment within one month, but with prior agreement your organization may settle the invoice according to its standard payment procedures. Payment should be made by bank transfer to our account (details are provided on the invoice).