At MultiLing we define quality control as "a journey to perfection." When it comes to patents, even the smallest error in translation could result in rejection by a country patent office whose goal is to find a reason to deny your patent filing. When a patent examiner in a foreign patent office reads the claims and notices an error - an error that likely was caused by poor translation - they will submit an office action against the invention, claiming that it is not suitable to receive a patent. Unfortunately, having an accurate patent in the original language will not circumvent the problem, and as with any legal proceeding, the time and effort to resolve the issue wastes valuable resources.
Here at MultiLing, we do not simply sample small parts of the documentation for quality. Instead, we review all documentation, page by page, in every step of our process. Throughout this process, linguistic feedback is provided to our translation teams via a uniform metric.
It is through a meticulous quality control work-flow that takes place throughout the translation process, and not just at the end, that helps to ensure each patent is ready for filing.
Many of our quality control steps (such as format verification and terminology verification) are performed automatically through software or Quality Assurance scripts. Some quality control steps are performed manually by reviewers who are experts in patent translation. In addition, our desktop publishing team checks and rechecks your document to make sure it conforms to each country's specific formatting stipulations.
Quality Control Checks
- Accuracy: double-checking text omissions and additions
- Terminology: making sure translators adhered to glossaries, appropriate abbreviates and context
- Language: checking grammar, semantics, punctuation and spelling
- Style: evaluating register and tone, the use of language variants and the avoidance of slang
- Country: ensuring each document adheres to country-specific standards
This multifaceted quality process is managed by our proprietary enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, GoldenEye. GoldenEye has customized checklists for each client. GoldenEye also includes a sophisticated project tracking system that helps team members avoid errors while processing these files. All information is shared and distributed efficiently through a lateral form of management that creates ownership, team responsibility, and inter-team collaboration.
