The legal importance of technical translations

Technicians regard a translation solely as an auxiliary means of making documents comprehensible in another language. Therefore, nobody wonders why very often people tend to economize just on translations. The existing regulations on product liability mean that those translations which are simply thrown together can be risky, because injuries caused by ambiguous instructions can lead to enormous damages payable by the careless producer. This is a false economy and results in savings being made in the wrong area. The legal importance of a good translation and the savings gained from it indicate that its costs are a necessary and worthwhile investment which will be repaid at a later stage. The problem is highlighted using mainly the example of patent translations. Such translations are not only the responsibility of patent attorneys, but also often that of medium and large firms where an in-house counsellor exists. Sometimes, an individual inventor's or small firm's disregard for the wider importance of a good translation can lead, in the end, to considerable costs.

Keywords:

• Translation
• Patent
• Application
• Legal Document
• Technology
• Liability
• Litigation
• Infringement