Bibliographic details and abstracts are available to all. Downloads of full-text dissertations are restricted to University of Portsmouth members who must login. MPhils may be accessed by all.

Abstract

 In the digital age, the evolution of translation, particularly the integration of machine translation (MT) across various domains, has raised debates about its reliability and productivity. This dissertation explores the feasibility of using MT for patentability assessment. The study investigates whether patent professionals can rely on MT to assess prior art, a pivotal aspect of patent evaluation. The research uses a real-world patent as a case study, assessing translations from English to French generated by four different MT systems against a reference translation done with the assistance of Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools. The dissertation provides both a translation of the patent and a commentary. Through a comparative analysis of MT outputs against CAT-assisted human translation and a comprehensive literature review, the dissertation offers insights on whether MT, alone or in tandem with post-editing, can serve as a proficient tool for translating patents in the context of assessing patentability. Findings reveal that while the four MT systems produced translations disclosing over 85% of the patent’s invention, they may not always be reliable for patents that might be relevant to the proposed invention. Human post-editing remains essential, particularly when there is uncertainty about the accuracy of MT outputs in the context of patents with similar content or scope. While MT offers undeniable benefits, in terms of cost and time savings for preliminary translations, its efficiency becomes less clear when outputs necessitate post-editing. This study does not aim to assess the quality of post-edited MT outputs but focuses on the sufficiency and efficiency of MT for prior art searches and the need to revert to post-editing. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the integration of modern translation technologies, with a focus on their inherent limitations in patent translation. This study also illuminates the practical implications of using MT in the patent industry. It highlights the increased efficiency during preliminary searches, while also emphasizing the critical role of human expertise for post-editing.

Course: Translation Studies - MA/PGD - C0680

Date Deposited: 2024-02-06

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14368.html