Japanese patent filing costs are the highest in the world, due to translation cost and fees charged by Japanese patent attorneys.

For a patent application of 30 pages (about 9,000 words), total filing costs can be as high as $10,000, half of that is the translation cost.

Is there a way to reduce Japanese patent filing costs?

The answer is YES.

Although there is little we can do about the fees charged by Japanese patent attorneys, there is a way to significantly reduce patent translation costs.

But how?

Using the most advanced Translation Memory tool, for example, Trados, can dramatically reduce your translation cost while guaranteeing the translation quality.

The core concept of Translation Memory (TM) (sometimes also called Machine-assisted Human Translation, or Computer-aided Translation) is automating the re-use of previously translated terms and sentences. It is designed for use by professional translators. It does not automatically produce computer-generated translation. Instead it allows the translator to improve his/her productivity and consistency by re-using terms and sentences which have been translated in the past.

A typical patent has 30-60 pages. If there are multiple patents filed in the same areas, for example patents on cell phones, there is a similarity in the patent specifications. Using Trados, we can re-cycle the sentences that have been translated before and which have been stored in the translation memory. As a result, the same sentence usually does not need to be translated again. These translation productivity gains create direct savings in translation costs for you.

Savings in total translation costs are typically in the range of 20% - 50% but can be as high as 70%, depending on the document type.