Year: 2025

Translating “propiedad intelectual e industrial:” Fundamentals of Intellectual Property for Legal Translators and Interpreters

rebeccajowers Translator Training

For those of you who may be attending the American Translators Association’s annual conference next week in Boston, you may be interested in a session I will be giving on Friday on distinguishing and translating the terminology of propiedad intelectual and propiedad industrial. I’ll focus on how intellectual property is defined and protected in the US and in Spanish-speaking jurisdictions, providing a concise summary of how copyright, patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights may be acquired, defended, transferred, and (possibly) lost in both systems. We’ll look at the application-to-grant process in each case, and key terminology will be reviewed in both Spanish and English. I’ve also prepared for attendees a bilingual glossary of all of the terms we’ll discuss. Here’s an overview of the session content:

  • Distinguishing propiedad intelectual and propiedad industrial (copyright vs. patents, trademarks and other registrable rights)
  • Copyright (propiedad intelectual; derechos de autor)
    • Defining what constitutes a copyrightable work (what can be copyrighted and what cannot)
    • Rights in copyrighted works: author’s moral and economic rights (derechos morales y patrimoniales), neighboring rights (derechos afines), and exploitation rights (derechos de explotación)
    • Protecting copyright: the registration process
    • Transferring copyright: licenses (licencias) and assignments (cesiones)
  • Patent law (Derecho de patentes)
    • Patentability requirements (requisitos de patentabilidad)
    • Structure and content of a patent application
    • Applying for and obtaining a patent (solicitud y concesión de patentes)
    • Protecting patents from infringement
  • Trademark Law (Derecho de marcas)
    • “Standard” trademarks: word marks (marcas denominativas), device/design marks (marcas gráficas), and composite marks (marcas mixtas)
    • “New” trademarks: can sounds or smells be registered as trademarks?
    • Protecting trademarks by registration: the first-to-file (Spain, Latin America) vs. first-to-use (US) systems
    • The trademark registration process (búsqueda de antecedentes, solicitud, examen de prohibiciones relativas y absolutas, concesión)
    • International Classification of Goods and Services (Clasificación Internacional de Productos y Servicios)
    • Registration by class
    • Protecting trademark rights (acciones en defensa de la marca)
      • Opposition watch service (aviso de parecidos) to oppose applications for confusingly-similar marks
      • Registering defensive trademarks (marcas defensivas)
      • Filing infringement actions (acción por usurpación de marca)
      • Combating counterfeit and gray-market goods (falsificaciones y productos del mercado gris)
      Transferring trademark rights: licenses (licencias) and assignments (cesiones)
    • Dilution of trademark rights by tarnishment or blurring (dilución por degradación o empañamiento)
    • Loss of trademark rights
      • Genericness (“vulgarización” de la marca)
      • Failure to use (falta de uso)
      • Failure to renew (impago de la tasa de renovación)
      • Surrender of trademark rights (renuncia del titular)

Confusing Criminal Procedure Terms: “libertad provisional” and “libertad condicional”

rebeccajowers Confusing Terms

In Spanish criminal proceedings libertad provisional generally denotes “pretrial release,” or “release pending trial,” referring to the release of a criminal suspect or defendant pending the outcome of a criminal investigation or while awaiting trial. In this case a judge may order libertad (provisional) con fianza (“release on bail”) or libertad (provisional) sin fianza, a “release without bail” similar to “release on recognizance” (ROR) in the US in which the releasee promises to appear for trial at a later date. In Spain libertad sin fianza is often granted with medidas cautelares (in this context, “conditions”) such as the requirement to periodically report to the court (obligación de comparecer en el juzgado).

In contrast, libertad condicional generally denotes the early release of a prison inmate who is classified in what is termed tercer grado del tratamiento penitenciario (the minimum security level of the offender treatment program), has served at least three-fourths of their sentence (que haya cumplido las tres cuartas partes de la condena), and who has exhibited good behavior (observado buena conducta). When granted libertad conditional, an inmate is allowed to serve the remainder of their sentence in the community. In that regard, libertad condicional may perhaps be rendered as “early release” or as “parole” (the latter being defined in Black’s as “the release of a prisoner from imprisonment before the full sentence has been served”). Related terminology includes conceder/revocar la libertad condicional (to grant/to revoke parole) and violación de la libertad condicional (parole violation).

Early release can exceptionally be granted under other circumstances (supuestos especiales de adelantamiento de la libertad condicional). These include libertad anticipada por enfermedad (often referred to as “compassionate release” in English) for inmates suffering from a serious incurable disease (internos aquejados de enfermedad grave incurable), or inmates over 70 years old (internos mayores de 70 años).

Spanish-English Legal Translation: Multiple Meanings of “rendimiento(s)”

rebeccajowers Multiple Meanings

One of the most obvious English meanings of rendimiento is “performance,” and in the context of labor law the term generally refers to an employee’s job performance (rendimiento en el trabajo). In this context auditoría de rendimiento refers to a worker’s “performance audit,” while salario a rendimiento is what is known in English as “payment by result—PBR” or “performance-related pay.” And with regard to labor disputes, huelga de bajo rendimiento describes a “slow-down strike,” a “go-slow strike” or simply a “go-slow” (my Colombian students call this operación tortuga!).

But in the area of Spanish tax law, rendimientos (in the plural) has the specific meaning of “income” or “earnings,” being a synonym of ingresos and renta. Thus, in the terminology of personal income tax (impuesto sobre la renta de las personas físicas), income declared on a tax return (declaración de la renta) includes rendimientos del trabajo (“earned income”), rendimientos de capital mobiliaria (“investment income”), rendimientos de capital inmobiliaria (“rental income”), and rendimientos de actividades económicas (“business income”). In that regard, rendimientos íntegros refers to one’s “gross income,” while rendimientos netos are “net income.” Certain income may likewise be “exempt from withholding” (rendimientos exentos de retención). And in a more general sense, rendimientos may also denote “cash income” (rendimientos dinerarios) as opposed to “noncash income” or “income in kind” (rendimientos no dinerarios or rendimientos en especie).

“Derecho Probatorio:” Concepts and Terminology of the Law of Evidence in Spain, Mexico and the US

rebeccajowers ES-EN Legal Translation

If you’re a legal translator or interpreter attending the American Translators Association conference in Boston (October 22-25), perhaps you may be interested in my 3-hour Advanced Skills & Training session on Derecho probatorio. Just in case, here is a description and a (fairly) detailed outline of the aspects I’ll be discussing:

DERECHO PROBATORIO: Concepts and Terminology of the Law of Evidence in Spain, Mexico and the US

CONTENT SUMMARY

Whether translating procedural documents or interpreting in court, translators and interpreters inevitably require an in-depth understanding of the law of evidence. Distinguishing between civil and criminal proceedings, this course contrasts Spanish and Mexican Derecho probatorio with similar concepts found in the Federal Rules of Evidence and related US state rules. After surveying the main types of evidence and reviewing how evidence is produced, admitted, and examined, the speaker will present her Top 20 pitfalls when rendering Spanish and Mexican evidence-related terms into English. The emphasis will be on identifying evidentiary procedures in the US and in Spanish-speaking jurisdictions that may prompt miscues in translation.

The major aspects to be discussed include:

1. Procedimientos probatorios comunes a los procesos civiles y penales (evidentiary procedures in both civil and criminal proceedings)

  • Clasificación de la prueba (categories of evidence)
  • Proposición/ofrecimiento, aportación, admisión y práctica/desahogo de pruebas (proposal, production, admission and examination of evidence)
  • Carga de la prueba (burden of proof)
  • Valoración de la prueba (weighing of evidence)
  • Los hechos (the facts of the case)
  • Presunciones (presumptions)
  • Diligencias finales con posibles hechos nuevos o de nueva noticia (final evidentiary proceedings with possible new or after-discovered evidence)

2. La prueba en el proceso civil (evidence in civil proceedings)

  • Interrogatorio e interrogatorio cruzado (examination and cross-examination)
  • Prueba testifical (witness testimony; examination of witnesses)
  • Prueba documental (documentary evidence)
  • Prueba pericial (expert evidence; expert witness testimony)
  • Reconocimiento judicial (judicial out-of-court inspections)
  • Otros medios de prueba (other types of evidence)

3. La prueba en el proceso penal (evidence in criminal proceedings)

  • (Prueba testifical; documental, pericial, etc.)
  • Prueba anticipada y preconstituida (evidence existing and examined prior to trial)
  • Prueba acordada ex oficio (court-ordered examination of evidence)
  • Prueba indiciaria (circumstantial evidence)
  • Prueba obtenida ilícitamente (illegally-obtained evidence)

4. La prueba en las diligencias de investigación penal (evidence taken during criminal investigatory procedures)

  • Identificación del sospechoso (identifying a suspect)
  • Diligencia de inspección ocular e identificación y conservación del cuerpo del delito (crime scene inspection and identification and preservation of the evidence of an offense)
  • Análisis forense y autopsias (forensic analysis and autopsies)
  • Declaración del imputado (testimony of the alleged offender)
  • Declaraciones de los testigos (witness testimony)
  • Careo de testigos e imputados (“face-off” confronting witnesses with alleged offenders who have given conflicting statements or testimony)
  • Declaración del ofendido (victim testimony)
  • El derecho a no declarar (testimonial privilege)
  • Informes periciales (expert witness reports)
  • Pruebas de alcoholemia y sustancias psicotrópicas (alcohol and drug tests)
  • Videovigilancia e intervención de comunicaciones personales (video surveillance and interception of private communications)
  • Entrada y registro (search of premises)
  • Inspecciones e intervenciones corporales (body searches)
  • Utilización de agentes encubiertos y confidentes policiales (use of undercover agents and police informants)
  • Circulación o entrega vigilada de sustancias prohibidas (monitored circulation or delivery of illegal substances)

5. Pruebas practicadas en el juicio oral (evidence examined at trial)

  • Declaración del acusado (testimony of the accused)
  • Prueba de testigos (witness testimony)
  • Prueba pericial (expert evidence)
  • Prueba documental (documentary evidence)
  • Inspección ocular (site inspection or examination of physical evidence located out of court)

6. The “Top 20” translation pitfalls that translators and interpreters may encounter in evidence-related documents or in court proceedings. Comparison of Spanish and Mexican evidence-related terminology.

(Attendees will receive a +500 term bilingual glossary of all of the terminology and concepts discussed during the session)

Weird Legal Words You (Maybe) Need to Know: Nomography

rebeccajowers Vocabulary Building

A perhaps-not-so-well-known legal term is “nomography,” defined as the art of drafting laws, or a treatise on the drafting of laws (from the Greek term for “law,” νόμος or nómos). In English nomography is more commonly known as “legislative drafting,” and in Spanish is called técnica legislativa or técnica normativa (and, of course, nomografía).

Much has been said of their different legislative drafting styles when comparing and contrasting civil law and common law systems. Legislative texts in civil law jurisdictions are described as broadly outlining general principles in codes, with subsequent secondary legislation, regulations and judicial interpretation ultimately filling in the gaps. In contrast, common law statutes are seen as more explicit, yielding longer, more detailed texts. As an example, the UK’s Companies Act 2006 contains 1,300 sections and 16 schedules, being the longest piece of legislation in British parliamentary history. An interesting analysis of “Legislative drafting style: civil law vs. common law” is available here in English and French in this Canadian publication (pp. 23-51).

False Friends in Spanish-English Legal Translation: When “autorizado” doesn’t mean “authorized”

rebeccajowers False Friends

Autorizado/a and “authorized” should perhaps be classified as partial cognates, since in many legal contexts autorizado/a may certainly be translated as “authorized.” Examples include expressions such as distribuidor autorizado (“authorized distributor”); firma autorizada (“authorized signature”); personal autorizado (“authorized personnel), capital social autorizado (“authorized share capital”) or uso no autorizado de la marca (“unauthorized trademark use”). But, for example, when referring to notarial instruments autorizado generally means “certified.” In that regard, a documento autorizado por notario is a “document certified by a notary,” a “notarially-certified instrument” or perhaps simply a “notarial (or) notarized document (or) instrument.”

And autorizado/a may also mean “authoritative,” as in la más autorizada opinion (“the most authoritative opinion”) or la versión más autorizada (“the most authoritative version”). Thus, the expression autorizada doctrina may be appropriately translated as “authoritative academic opinion” or “authoritative legal scholarship” when doctrina refers to the writings of law professors and legal scholars. And in an additional context, la autorizada doctrina del Tribunal Constitucional denotes the “authoritative caselaw of the Constitutional Court,” doctrina in this sense referring to the court’s doctrina jurisprudencial, its “established (or) settled caselaw”.

Expressing Civil Law Concepts in Common Law Terms: Identifying Spanish-English Functional Equivalents

rebeccajowers Expressing Civil Law Concepts in Common Law Terms

On Tuesday, May 27th (6pm Madrid time) I will be giving a webinar on the Academia de los Grandes Traductores platform.

In our discussion of how to identify functional equivalents, we’ll look at the following aspects with Spanish and English examples for each:

  • Civil law vs. common law: we are dealing with two very different legal systems
  • Are there really any true “equivalents”? Is legal translation even possible?
  • When expressing civil law concepts in common law terms, can we use the terminology of English-speaking civil law jurisdictions? What about Louisiana? (a look at some Louisiana civil law “equivalents”)
  • Is the terminology of comparative law scholars useful?
  • Won’t this all depend on the target audience?
  • How can we identify functional equivalents? (Determining which ones will work and which ones won’t)
  • Functional equivalents that “work,” that “fit.” (Examples from Spanish Derecho civil, Derecho mercantil, Derecho de los contratos and Derecho procesal)
  • Generally-accepted functional equivalents revisited (ones that may not be the best choice after all)
    • Functional equivalents that may simply not be close enough
    • Functional equivalents that are only “half-right,” that don’t convey the whole concept or that leave out an important aspect of the original civil law term or expression
  • Functional equivalents that may work in one jurisdiction but prompt a miscue in the other
    • Functional equivalents that may work in England and Wales, but not in the US
    • Functional equivalents that may work in the US, but not in the UK
  • Common all-too-literal translations that may have a reasonable functional equivalent after all
  • Functional equivalents that don’t work and that are likely to prompt a miscue
  • Functional equivalents hiding in plain sight (they may be there if we look hard enough)

If you would like to sign up, click here.

False Friends: 25 expressions in which “beneficio” and benefit aren’t cognates

rebeccajowers False Friends

There are several legal contexts in which beneficio cannot be translated as “benefit,” and vice versa. When used with the meaning of “ganancias,” beneficio is often rendered as “profit,” as in margin de beneficio (“profit margin”); beneficio bruto (“gross profit”); beneficio neto (“net profit”); beneficio contable (“accounting profit”) or beneficio de explotación (“operating profit”). Similarly, beneficio may also refer to “earnings,” as in the expressions beneficio por acción or BPA (“earnings per share” or “EPS”); beneficio antes de impuestos or BAI (“earnings before taxes” or “EBT”); beneficio antes de intereses e impuestos or BAII (“earnings before interest and taxes” or “EBIT”) and beneficio antes de intereses, impuestos, depreciación y amortización or BAIIDA (“earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization” or “EBITDA”).*

Another example in which beneficio cannot be translated simply as “benefit” is in the expression beneficios penitenciarios. As defined in Art. 202 of the Spanish Reglamento Penitenciario, beneficios penitenciarios generically refer to all measures that carry a reduction of an inmate’s sentence or the time effectively served in prison (medidas que permiten la reducción de la duración de la condena… o el tiempo efectivo de internamiento). Examples include good behavior (buena conducta), and other aspects such as holding a job (desempeño de una actividad laboral normal) and participating in reeducation and rehabilitation programs (actividades de reeducación y reinserción social). Although often translated literally as “prison benefits,” in many US states and in the federal prison system (Federal Bureau of Prisons) beneficios penitenciarios awarded for good behavior are known as “good time,” or “good time credit,” while prison work and participation in inmate educational programs often are referred to as “earned time.” Thus, depending on the context and for US audiences, concesión de beneficios penitenciarios may be rendered as “award of good time/earned time,” computo de beneficios penitenciarios denotes “calculation of good time/earned time,” and reducción de beneficios penitenciarios is “loss of good time/earned time.”

Similarly, there are a series of expressions in which beneficio denotes a “right” or “privilege,” rather than a benefit. In that regard, in Spanish procedural law contexts beneficio de justicia gratuita or beneficio de asistencia jurídica gratuita (formerly known as beneficio de pobreza) refers to a party’s right to free legal counsel or legal aid (likewise known as derecho a la asistencia jurídica gratuita). In Spanish inheritance law the expression beneficio de inventario refers to an heir’s right to demand an inventory of the decedent’s estate to determine the extent of its debts before accepting the inheritance. And with regard to a cosigner’s liability for a debt, beneficio de excusión, division y orden denote the cosigner’s right to compel the creditor to sue the borrower first (excusión), to be liable only for their proportional share of the debt (división) if there are multiple cosigners, and to have all other remedies first exhausted against the borrower before resorting to the cosigner (orden).

In other respects, in English and in the context of social security law, “benefit” cannot always be translated as beneficio, but rather is often more appropriately rendered as prestación. This is true in expressions such as “social security benefits” (prestaciones de la seguridad social); “unemployment benefits” (prestaciones por desempleo); retirement benefits (prestaciones por jubilación); “contributory benefits” (prestaciones contributivas) or “noncontributory benefits” (prestaciones no contributivas).

Likewise, in the context of labor law the expression “fringe benefits” refers generally to prestaciones extrasalariales, including various types of nonwage compensation provided by the employer such as a profit sharing scheme (plan de participación en los beneficios), stock options (opciones sobre acciones), medical and healthcare insurance (seguro médico), employee housing (vivienda de la empresa), a company car (coche de la empresa) or company daycare (guardería de la empresa).

*For more on amortización and amortization see here

Legal English for Spanish-speakers: “payment methods” vs. “payment terms”

rebeccajowers Confusing Terms

The expressions “payment methods” and “payment terms” may seem confusingly similar, but can be easily distinguished: payment methods describe how payments are made; payment terms indicate when they must be made.

Examples of common payment methods (formas/medios de pago) include:

  • cash (efectivo)
  • check; cheque (UK) (cheque)
  • credit or debit card (tarjeta de crédito o débito)
  • prepaid card (tarjeta de prepago)
  • digital wallet (monedero electrónico)
  • bank transfer (transferencia bancaria)
  • autopay; direct debit (domiciliación de pagos)
  • (etc.)

And standard payment terms (plazos de pago) include:

  • payment in advance (PIA) (pago por adelantado)
  • cash in advance (CIA) (efectivo por adelantado)
  • cash with order (CWO) (efectivo con pedido)
  • cash before shipped (CBS) (efectivo antes del envío)
  • cash on delivery (COD) (contrareembolso; entrega contra reembolso)
  • invoice date (fecha factura)
  • end of month (EOM) (fin de mes)
  • month following invoice (MFI) (mes siguiente fecha factura)
  • net 30 (30 días fecha factura)
  • net 60 (60 días fecha factura)
  • net 90 (90 días fecha factura)
  • (etc.)

For different meanings of pago al contado see here

For an explanation in Spanish and English of the current (2020) Incoterms see here

Jornada “Fundamentals of Contracts: Terminology and Concepts for Spanish Legal Professionals”

rebeccajowers Legal English for Spanish-speakers

On Tuesday 11 March 25 I will be giving a 2-hour seminar on the Fundamentals of Contracts for Lawyers and Legal Professionals at the Madrid Bar Association. This will be an initial introduction, and the topics we’ll discuss include:

  • Basic Contract Terminology
  • Step-by-step Through the Life of a Contract (basic contract theory)
  • Contract Terminology Pitfalls (“trampas”)
  • Beware! Most contracts are NOT written in plain English (examples of what to look out for)
  • Structure of English-language Contracts
  • 27 (!) Standard Contract Clauses

The session is sponsored by Fernando Cuñado (Traducción Jurídica) and will be presented by Mercedes Carmona Mariscal, Co-chair of the ICAM’s Corporate Law section.

Time: 16:00-18:00

Place: Ilustre Colegio de la Abogacía de Madrid

c/Serrano 9 (Madrid)

You can sign up to attend in person or remotely here

And for all attendees, here is a “handout” of the basic contract vocabulary that we will be discussing:

Basic Contract Terminology (with possible Spanish translations)

To start you off compiling your own personal bilingual glossary of contract terminology, here are some of the terms and expressions that we will be discussing during our survey of the Fundamentals of Contracts. They are listed in thematic rather than alphabetical order, because it’s easier to learn them that way.

But please note: 1) when rendering common law concepts into Spanish there are very few true “equivalents;” 2) a single term often has more than one possible translation, and 3) you may sometimes have to find a “definitional translation” when there is no similar concept in Spanish law.

to make an offer (hacer una oferta)

offeror (oferente)

offeree (destinatario de la oferta)

to accept/reject an offer (aceptar/rechazar una oferta)

to revoke an offer (revocar una oferta)

to make a counteroffer (hacer una contraoferta)

contract; agreement (contrato)

to draft a contract; to draw up a contract (redactar un contrato)

(a first/rough/final) draft of a contract (borrador de un contrato)

to negotiate a contract (negociar un contrato)

to bargain (negociar)

to make a deal (hacer un trato)

to reach an agreement (alcanzar un acuerdo)

to enter into a contract (celebrar un contrato)

“meeting of the minds” (“acuerdo de voluntades”)

contractual capacity; capacity to contract (capacidad contractual)

lack of capacity (falta de capacidad)

incompetence (incapacidad)

person adjudicated incompetent (incapaz; persona judicialmente incapacitada)

adjudication of incompetence (declaración judicial de incapacidad)

minor; infant; child (menor de edad)

minority; infancy (minoría de edad)

age of majority (mayoría de edad)

consideration (contraprestaciones que deben dar las partes para que un contrato sea válido)

“quid pro quo” (“algo por algo”)

precontract (precontrato)

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU); Letter of Intent (LoI) (“acuerdo de intenciones”)

Non-disclosure Agreement (acuerdo de confidencialidad)

contracting parties; parties to a contract (las partes contractuales; las partes del contrato)

to execute/sign a contract (firmar un contrato)

execution copy (ejemplar del contrato, listo para la firma)

the undersigned (el abajo firmante)

a valid contract (contrato válido)

a binding contract (to be binding on/upon the parties) (contrato que obliga a las partes; contrato de obligado cumplimiento)

to be bound by (an obligation, contract, etc.)

a void contract (contrato nulo)

a voidable contract (contrato anulable)

an enforceable contract (contrato exigible ante los tribunales)

effective date; date of entry into force (fecha de entrada en vigor)

the subject/subject-matter of a contract (el objeto del contrato)

the term/duration of a contract (plazo/duración del contrato)

the terms/conditions of a contract (condiciones generales del contrato)

to perform a contract (cumplir/ejecutar un contrato)

performance (cumplimiento contractual)

breach of contract (incumplimiento contractual)

material breach (incumplimiento grave)

contract default (incumplimiento contractual)

failure to perform a contract (incumplimiento contractual)

nonperformance of contract (incumplimiento contractual)

the breaching/defaulting party (la parte incumplidora)

the nonbreaching/ nondefaulting party (la parte cumplidora)

the injured/aggrieved party (la parte perjudicada)

to remedy/cure a breach of contract (subsanar el incumplimiento)

supervening impossibility of performance (imposibilidad sobrevenida de cumplimiento)

remedies for breach of contract (medidas resarcitorias del incumplimiento)

compensation for damages (indemnización de daños y perjuicios)

rescission and restitution (resolución y restitución)

“status quo ante”

specific performance (cumplimiento en natura, cumplimiento forzoso en forma específica, i.e., cumplimiento del contrato en sus exactos términos)

to amend a contract (modificar un contrato)

amendment (modificación)

to terminate a contract (resolver un contrato)

early termination (resolución anticipada)

notice of termination (preaviso de resolución)

to extend a contract (prorrogar un contrato)

to renew a contract (renovar un contrato)

automatic renewal (tácita reconducción)

assignment of contract (assignment of rights/delegation of duties) (cesión de la posición contractual)

assignor (cedente)

assignee (cesionario)

to interpret/construe a contract (interpretar un contrato)

interpretation/construction of contract (interpretación del contrato)