The aim of the
article is to illustrate the issues of translation into law, compared with the
lack of legal translators. Several examples in the field of litigation are
given.
Legal translation and confidentiality
The first relates to what was the highly publicized
infringement lawsuit brought by Louboutin against Yves
Saint-Laurent. Louboutin argued that YSL was infringing its rights by
donating its pumps with a red sole, Louboutin's historic distinctive
sign. Although both companies are French, the trial was held in U.S.
courts. The Economist points out at the outset that the problems solved by the legal
translation in this case far exceeded those that can be expected at first
sight. More than just translating English into French.
It is also the transcription of very different legal
concepts and cultures, all in the context of a high-profile trial and
heightened media attention. The U.S. principle of discovery has been a particular problem. It is the right of
one party to request any useful document from the other party. This
principle is almost unknown in French law (the head office of the two company
is in France), which on the other hand emphasizes the protection of privacy. To
overcome this difficulty, a translation process had to be established to ensure
the confidentiality of information provided by companies, which could include
the names of junior employees.
The central role of the legal translator
The second example of legal wrangling, more quickly
mentioned, concerns the no less media lawsuit - concerning here also
intellectual property - Against Samsung. Between the American giant and
the Korean giant, two opposing cultures and billions of dollars at stake. In
another example, when Panasonic wanted to buy one of its Japanese competitors,
the U.S. competition authority asked to consult an impressive amount of
documents, legal or not, to give effect to the agreement on U.S. soil. The
Economist ends up pointing out that the
existence of computer-assisted machine translation techniques is still far from
guaranteeing a satisfactory result. Although such systems can of course be
used, the use of a professional legal translator is necessary to obtain a legal
translation that can be trusted.
On all these cases, the
legal translators of the selected translation agency worked in direct
collaboration with the parties' lawyers. You can find a few other comments
on this article at this address.
