Terminology issues III

G'day everyone

3. Once the first two issues have been battled out, the next question concerns a database type used in the translation industry called a "translation memory" (TM for short). A TM is a database of translated sentences (not just loose words). These sentences are often sorted alphabetically or by date, but you usually can't recreate the original text from just the TM alone.

Translators are still debating whether the TM is their intellectual property, and what rights the translator have to do with the TM. But usually any TM is created from a translation which was authorised by a client who owns the original text.

My question relates to what if the TM is created from a translation which was not authorised. What if the translator gets his hands on a legal electronic copy of a work, then translates it without authorisation, then adds the translation to a TM, then processes the TM so that the original work can't be reproduced from the TM alone, and then destroys the original [intermediary] translation?

Why do I ask? Because I'm launching a terminology project which will include a database of terms and sentences, and the sources from which the terms and sentences are retrieved, are legal copies, I just don't have the capacity to get permission from every work's copyright holder to do the term and sentence extraction and translation. What are my rights? How can I advance terminological excellence without infringing on copyright?

Samuel Received on Wed Jun 21 2006 - 06:05:45 GMT