MPEP Section 901.05(d), Translation

Executive summary:

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901.05(d) Translation

Examiners may consult the translators in the Translations Branch of the Scientific and Technical Information Center (STIC) for oral assistance in translating foreign patents or literature that are possible references for an application being examined. Examiners may also request written translations of pertinent portions of references being considered for citation or already cited in applications. See MPEP § 901.06(a), STIC Services - Translations, and MPEP § 903.03, Availability of Foreign Patents.

Examiners may request written translations at any point in the examination process, at the discretion of the individual examiner, but are encouraged to use oral assistance and/or language reference resources as much as possible in the early phases of examination. Effective January 1, 2004, the Translations Branch will use e-mail as the sole delivery method for written translations. Paper copies of the translation request form, the foreign document and the translation will no longer be returned to the examiner. Therefore, it is important that examiners submit to STIC only copies of the foreign documents to be translated, and retain the original documents.

Translation service requests can be submitted electronically, via phone, or by fax to STIC. More information is available at: http://ptoweb/patents/stic**.

Equivalent versions of foreign specifications, that is, members of the same patent family, are often available in English or other languages known to the examiner. In addition, copies of previously translated documents are stored in the Translations Branch. Before any translation request is processed, the staff of the Translations Branch checks for equivalents or previous translations. The staff of STIC's Foreign Patent and Scientific Literature Branch or the Translations Branch can assist examiners in locating equivalents or abstracts. See MPEP § 901.06(a), STIC Services - Foreign Patent Services.