PCT Yearly Review - WIPO
PCT Yearly Review - WIPO
PCT Yearly Review - WIPO
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Section B<br />
performance of the pct system<br />
B.1.4 Translation<br />
The translations produced by the IB are intended to enhance<br />
the patent system’s disclosure function by making<br />
the technological information in <strong>PCT</strong> applications accessible<br />
in languages other than those in which the original<br />
documents were filed. In order to meet this objective, the<br />
IB ensures that all abstracts and titles of <strong>PCT</strong> applications<br />
are made available in English and French, and all<br />
preliminary search and examination reports in English.<br />
Figure B.1.4 presents the distribution of in-house and<br />
outsourced translations since 2007 for both titles and<br />
abstracts (henceforth, abstracts) and preliminary search<br />
and examination reports (henceforth, reports).<br />
Figure B.1.4: Distribution of translation work<br />
The number of documents translated in 2012 increased<br />
significantly compared to 2011, with 264,795 abstracts<br />
translated and 78,455 reports translated, representing<br />
growth of 13.4% and 25.3%, respectively. The increase<br />
was due mainly to higher numbers of translations from<br />
the Asian languages.<br />
Despite this growing workload, the share of outsourced<br />
abstracts and reports slightly decreased in 2012. This is<br />
the first time such a decrease has been witnessed since<br />
outsourcing of translations started in 2006. However,<br />
external agencies and translators continued to translate<br />
the vast majority of abstracts (87.1%) and reports (97.3%)<br />
in 2012.<br />
Other important developments in 2012 included the<br />
following.<br />
Abstracts and titles<br />
Translation of abstracts<br />
In-house Outsourced<br />
60.1 73.9 79.5 88.8 89.6 87.1<br />
Share of outsourced translation (%)<br />
264,795<br />
233,471<br />
214,153 216,282<br />
205,885<br />
203,460<br />
The IB introduced a modernized environment for its<br />
internal translators that allows past translations and<br />
terminology to be better exploited, with the aim of increasing<br />
translation efficiency. For external agencies<br />
and translators, it was decided to adopt a commercially<br />
available system for workflow automation and translation<br />
distribution. Implementation of this system began in 2012<br />
and initial roll-out is planned for the summer of 2013.<br />
Reports<br />
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012<br />
Year<br />
Translation of reports<br />
89.9 93.6 95.7 97.9 98.5 97.3<br />
Share of outsourced translation (%)<br />
44,900<br />
In-house<br />
48,809 48,550<br />
Outsourced<br />
55,276<br />
62,596<br />
78,455<br />
This will enable greater control over the way translations<br />
are distributed both internally and to outside collaborators<br />
and should eventually ensure that cost benefits arising<br />
from similarity or repetition between and within translations<br />
can be harvested by the IB rather than by external<br />
agencies. Extended control over how translations are<br />
further distributed by translation agencies should also<br />
ensure a more effective means of minimizing information<br />
security risks.<br />
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012<br />
Year<br />
Source: <strong>WIPO</strong>, March 2013<br />
The agencies selected in the 2011 tendering process<br />
for Japanese and Chinese translation were also moved<br />
into full production in the course of 2012. The number of<br />
prospective agencies whose work proved successful was<br />
limited; however, their impact on costs was significant.<br />
Structural changes to the tendering process will be made<br />
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