Translation For Lawyers

Professional translation and courtroom interpretation services are important when dealing with an EU jurisdiction. Europe recently passed legislation (Brussels II) that may affect divorce cases with the US. In a case involving the legal doctrine of forum non conveniens (JKN v. JCN (2010) EWHC 843), it was held that a EU member state can decide not to exercise jurisdiction in a divorce "if it seems better overall for the case to be in another state". This is similar to the situation in the US, where a state court can also opt to not decide a divorce case. The goal of such legislation is to try to keep a couple to getting a divorce in only one country.

Continue reading "Professional Translation Services and Cross-Border Divorces: EU and the US" »

We've blogged about partial translation in complex patent cases and language translation in Chinese patent infringement actions. In both the US and European Union, to qualify for a patent the invention must be: new, capable of industrial application and represent an inventive step over what was previously known. But from this basic three-pronged approach the two laws differ significantly.

Continue reading "Foreign Language Translation and Patent Protection in the EU" »

According to the European Commission - who has authority over competition law (Regulation 139/2004 and Art. 83 TEC) - competition law requires that firms proposing to merge must first gain authorization from the relevant government authority. Although firms are allowed to go forward with the merger without authorization, they face the prospect of demerger should the merger later be found to 'lessen competition'.

Continue reading "Translation/ Interpretation Services and Mergers and Acquisitions Under EU Competition Law" »

We've already blogged about language translation services and ediscovery translation in the context of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as well as about deposition translator and interpreter services in foreign depositions in U.S. federal cases.  But under European data privacy laws, conducting effective multilingual e-discovery becomes troublesome, and the benefits of e-discovery are being significantly hampered. By and large, E.U. law restricts the processing of personal data and its exporting outside E.U. borders.

Continue reading "Language Translation, E-Discovery Translation and European Data Privacy Laws" »

Professional translation services play an important role in arbitration. Nearly every industrialized nation has an International Arbitration Act on their books. Although every nation's Act is unique, all are similar in purpose - to facilitate the mediation and arbitration of international commercial disputes. Further, all states who have International Arbitration Acts agree to specific formalities as part of the International Arbitration Convention.

Continue reading "Corporate Translation, Legal Translation Services for Corporate Litigation Lawyers, and International Arbitration" »

With the growing economic and political strength of the European Union, more and more transatlantic business is being conducted. This leads to an increase of transatlantic business contracts. Such contracts need to be translated into the language or languages of the European country, with which the U.S. company is conducting business. And, the more international business transactions there are, the more blurred the law that governs the enforcement of contracts becomes.

Continue reading "Legal Document Translation, and Enforcing U.S. Judgments in Europe" »

Recently the European Union issued a new, fast-track review process for approving foreign made pharmaceuticals to be sold in the European Union. Since the European Union operates under numerous languages, it is important that any application for pharmaceutical approval under the EMEA fast-track system be submitted with the proper foreign language translations. This becomes particularly important when trying to demonstrate the unmet need or improvement requirement under the Accelerated Assessment Procedure.

Continue reading "Pharmaceutical Translations, Medical Translations and the European Union's Fast Track Approval Process for US Pharmaceuticals" »

With the highly publicized Royal Dutch Shell class action suit, the field of global class actions is once again being redefined. And with this and similar suits, multilingual foreign language live, print, and written translation becomes an essential issue to successfully litigating and negotiating these actions.

Continue reading "Legal Document Translations in Light of Royal Dutch Shell Global Class Action and Collective Settlement Agreements" »

The European Union currently has 23 official languages. In order for each version of the EU documents translated into those 23 languages to be binding, there’s an ongoing need for precise Bulgarian translation and Czech translation; Danish translation and Dutch translations; English translations and Estonian translation; Finnish translations and French translation; German translations and Greek translation; Hungarian translations and Irish translation; Italian translation and Latvian translation; Lithuanian translation and Maltese translation; Polish translation and Portuguese translation; Romanian translation and Slovak translation; Slovenian translation; Spanish translation and Swedish translation.

Continue reading "Bulgarian Translation of "Euro" as Bulgarian National and Cultural Identity Issue" »

Thanks to I/P Updates we just learned that France has ratified the London Agreement. This fact does away with the need to translate patents into all the languages of the EPO's Contracting States. Your clients no longer need to worry about needing Bulgarian translations; Czech translation; Danish translations; Dutch translation; Estonian translations; Finnish translations; Greek translations; Hungarian translations; Icelandic translations; Irish Gaelic translations; Italian translations; Latvian translations; Lithuanian translations; Luxembourgish translations; Maltese translations; Polish translations; Portuguese translations; Romanian translations; Slovak translations; Slovenian translations; Spanish translations; Swedish translations; and Turkish translations.

Continue reading "Patent Translation Costs To Drop as France Ratifies London Agreement" »

Is your client thinking about filing an application with the European Patent Office (EPO)? Accurate patent translations play an important role in every stage of the process, and shouldn’t be gambled with.

The European Patent Office has three official languages: English, French and German. It permits the filing of an application in one of its three official languages.

Continue reading "Patent Translations into Official Languages of EPO’s Contracting States Essential for Obtaining European Patents" »