Patents on the soles of your shoes...: September 2016

Friday, September 30, 2016

Happy International Translation Day!

Copyright Françoise Herrmann

The theme selected this year for celebrations is Connecting Worlds.

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As a reminder, International Translation Day is celebrated on Sept. 30th, on the Day of the Feast of St. Jerome, patron Saint of Translators.

St. Jerome delivered the first complete Latin version of the bible, translated from Greek, which says much about the time-bound process of translation, considering the many subsequent versions of the world's best-seller. For an interesting discussion of this aspect of translation, see Paul Ricoeur On translation / Sur la traduction.

References

Ricoeur, P. (2004) On Translation. Translated by Eileen Brennan. NY, NY: Rootledge

Ricoeur, P. (2004) Sur la traduction. Paris, France: Editions Bayard.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Oh, patents! Tiggly

Have you ever played Tiggly? Well, maybe not you personally… but your toddler or kindergartener, or the both of you together?

Tiggly shapes, Tiggly Math and Tiggly words are three of the Tiggly games, designed to create fun interactive learning experiences with the “silliest” apps! However, these interactive games are not only on screen!

Tiggly is also an augmented reality (AR) game that hinges between two worlds: the real and the virtual. Using physical manipulatives in the real world, detectable by the computer, the user/player bridges both worlds, interacting with a simulated virtual world using the real world manipulatives. So that, for example, using four shapes (a triangle, a circle, a star and square), the player can respond to one of several simulated worlds in different apps, matching, stamping or drawing with the physical shapes, on screen.

The result is a fun learning experience that is more than the sum of its parts! It is more than just playing with shapes in the real world since the shapes can be used to match, stamp and draw, while having an effect on the different simulated worlds of the apps. And it is more than a completely simulated and virtual world, on screen, since players negotiate what is happening on screen while manipulating objects off screen.

The four shape manipulatives for Tiggly Shapes are each the recipient of a US design patent::

US D726723 titled Computer detectable manipulative corresponds to the square.
US D726722 titled Computer detectable manipulative corresponds to the circle.
US D727323 titled Computer detectable manipulative corresponds to the triangle.
US D727322 titled Computer detectable manipulative corresponds to the star.

Above, the US design patent drawing for the USD727322 (star) computer detectable manipulative, and an image of all four of the marketed manipulative shapes. .👠

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Just for the record, the difference between a design patent and a utility patent is the following:

“a “utility patent” protects the way an article is used and works (35 U.S.C. 101), while a "design patent" protects the way an article looks (35 U.S.C. 171)” (USPTO) .

References

Tiggly - https://www.tiggly.com/

USPTO: Guide to filing a design patent application

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/iip/pdf/brochure_05.pdf

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Translation Tool : Parallel sites (4)

The EPO – European Patent Office, with offices in Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Brussels and a new main office building under construction in The Hague, Netherlands, is the executive branch of the European Patent Organization, under the supervision of an Administrative Council.

The European Patent Organization is an intergovernmental organization, set up in 1977, according to the provisions of the European Patent Convention (EPC). Currently, 38 states are members of the European Patent Organization. Thus, that there are more European countries, members of the EPOrg, than there are countries members of the European Union.

Otherwise, between 1993 and 2009, extension agreements were also signed with various countries that are not members of the EPO, two of which are still in force (with BA - Bosnia and Herzegovina and ME Montenegro). Thus, the EPO grants EP patents with protection in up to 40 countries party to the EPC.

The EPOffice website operates in the three official languages of the EPO: English, French, and German, each accessible via a toggle drop down menu located in the upper-right corner of the site pages.

Patent collections from all of the member states are stored in the EspaceNet database, which can be searched in each of the three official languages, and in each national language of the patent offices of the 40 countries party to the EPC.

References

EPO - European Patent Office website

www.epo.org

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Translation Tool : Parallel sites (3)

The EU (European Union) also boasts its own mega-institutional websites with parallel language construction. The EU has 28 member countries, where 24 different and official national languages are used. The 24 official languages of the EU are the following: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish.

Approximately 60 minority and indigenous languages are also spoken by 40 million people in the EU, for example: Welsh, Gaelic, Basque, Catalan and Breton. [Europa – Mulilingualism).

Per the Langauge policy of the EU, all 24 languages of the EU are used for legislation and key political documents. However, official documents that are not legally binding are published only in French, English and German.

The EU official website is EUROPA.eu. Access to general information is available in each of the 24 European languages, using a drop-down menu located in the upper-right corner of the pages, and using the initial splash page portal options. Information in regards the multilingualism of the site specifies that some of the more specialized information is only available in the more widely used languages.
The Official Journal Publication of the EU is available in the 24 national languages of the EU via the EUR.lex website.
The EUR-Lex website provides access to European Law – in the 24 languages of the EU. Just use the drop-down menu in the upper-right corner of the site pages to toggle in and out of the 24 parallel universes. An N-Lex-National Law tab also appears in the horizontal toolbar of the site for you to be able to explore the interactions between EU law and the national law of each of the 28 member states, and to access each of the national laws of the member states.
ERASMUS, celebrated in the popular French-Spanish movie L’auberge Espagnol (2002) (The Spanish Apartment, in English-speaking countries), is the European Union Educational Exchange program, with a 4-million student turnaround! This site too provides educational information in the 24 languages of the EU, including diploma equivalence information.

References

EUROPA.eu – The European Union website

https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en

EUROPA – Erasmus

http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/node_en

EUROPA – Multilingualism

https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/multilingualism_en

EUROPA - Language policy

http://europa.eu/european-union/abouteuropa/language-policy_en

Eur-Lex

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html

Eur-Lex - N-Lex

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/n-law/n-lex.html

EUR-Lex - Official Journal

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/oj/direct-access.html?locale=en

Sergent, B. (2008) Les indoEuropéens – CLIO – Conservatoire Contemporain de littérature
orale. https://ssl.cl io.fr/BIBLIOTHEQUE/pdf/pdf_les_indo_europeens.pdf

Friday, September 9, 2016

Translation tool – Parallel sites (2)

To further assist you with your linguistic and documentary research for translation purposes, you might selectively use the parallel sites of the UN (United Nations) agencies.

Most of the institutional sites of the UN (United Nations) agencies and organizations are plurilingual parallel sites! This means that there are six official parallel universes at each of the sites, each corresponding to one of the 6 official languages of the UN, namely English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese!

To access each of the different parallel universes, all you will need to do is to click on the language toggle option of your choice, “عربي 中文 English Français Русский Español”, usually (but not always) appearing in the upper right-hand corner of a page. And, within a page, the links will send you to translated documents or other translated hyperlinked content.

Again, accessing official, UN translator-crafted-translations does not get any easier than that!

Here is an example, bearing in mind that all of the UN agencies, whether it is, for example, the IMF - International Monetary Fund, the World Bank or the UNEP - UN Environmental Program, are each huge institutions, even if they are operating under the auspices of the UN.

WIPO

WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) is the United Nations Intellectual Property agency with 189 member states. Applications filed at the WIPO are granted WO patents upon successful examination and in compliance with the provisions of the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty).

The site covers all areas of IP (Intellectual Property), that is, patents, copyrights, trademarks and designs, providing both access to the databases of records, and to the legislation and regulations that govern such various types of IP.

WIPO is a mega institutional website that also includes its own publications and learning resources, as well as well as tools for fostering communication and cooperation among major IP players (inventors, entrepreneurs, institutions both private and public).

A drop-down menu in the upper right corner of the site pages enables you to toggle in and out of the 6 UN language universes so that both content and functionalities of the site are available in 6 languages.

Just try it!

References

UN WB - The World Bank

http://www.worldbank.org/

UN IMF - International Monetary Fund

http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm

UNEP - United National Environmental Program

http://unep.org/

UN - WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization

http://www.wipo.int/portal/en/index.html

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Translation tool – Parallel sites (1)

Some Internet sites are designed in ways that are particularly useful to translators. I am thinking of bilingual or pluri-lingual sites that offer completely parallel language universes. That is, you will find at these sites, usually in the upper right corner (but not always), a series of icons, a menu, or an option button through which you will be able to toggle into the parallel universe of another language.

The following site is a good example of these sorts of websites, which I encourage you to explore, for both linguistic and documentary research purposes connected to your translation work.

Canada Laws Website / Site Web de la législation (Justice)

In the upper right corner on the Canada Laws Website you will find the option “Français” allowing you to toggle into the Site Web de la législation (Justice), that is, the parallel French side of the site. Similarly, on the upper right-hand corner of the Site Web de la legislation (Justice), you will find the option “English” allowing you to toggle back into the English side.

This parallel design extends to all the hyperlinked content, sections and documents of the site, including laws… So, if your legal source text includes a particular citation, including chapter and verse, you will just need to find it on the cited side, and then toggle into the translation.

Translation does not get that much easier! And the translations you will access will be

Government of Canada - certified official translations too!

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Still a bit more mileage with this amazing translation bonus tool. All of the Canadian institutional sites include parallel language designs, whether it is Canada Health / Santé Canada, or the AAFC – Agriculture and Agrifood Canada / Agriculture and Agroalimentaire Canada sites!

Careful, though, the toggle options are sometimes located on a horizontal toolbar too...!

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Oh patents! Elissabide’s "hidden" heel

How do you attach heels to a pair of soft rope-soled espadrille? This is the problematic situation that FR853164 addresses, that is, one Elissabide’s many espadrille patents granted in 1939!

The solution disclosed in this patent, which is still widely used to date for all heeled or "wedged" espadrilles, is to insert a “hidden” heel that creates the requisite arch while retaining a flat roped sole. Thus, the inventive heel contrasts with conventional solutions consisting in providing an externally attached and visible heel.

This patent further discloses all the details of the manufacturing process of the internal heel -- made to the requisite height of approx. 1.5 inches; out of wood, particle board, rubber or preferably cork; and cut so that it is tapered or "wedged" under the foot, and hidden from view, once it is bonded on top of a regular rope sole.

To accommodate the heel within the sole, a strip of material is stitched all around the rope sole (see figure 1 extracted from FR853164), thus forming a receptacle for the heel. The strip is then folded on top of the heel bonded to the sole (see figure 3, also extracted from FR853164).

The espadrille upper will be manufactured so that it has a profile that matches the shape of the tapered heel within the sole, and then attached using processes of bonding, Blake stitching or reverse stitching known to those skilled in the art.

The scope of the invention extends to varying height of the hidden heel, to varying materials used for the upper, as well as for the strip attached to the sole as a receptacle for the hidden heel, and to varying sorts of soles.