Article published In:
TerminologyVol. 22:2 (2016) ► pp.171–200
The PCT Termbase of the World Intellectual Property Organization
Designing a database for multilingual patent terminology
Many key terminology databases are managed by national and international organizations. However, the methodology behind the development of such databases has rarely been discussed. This paper presents the terminology database of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the scientific and technical patent terminology database in ten languages available for browse online in WIPO Pearl. The article discusses in detail the design and structure of the PCT Termbase with reference to ISO standards. Divergences are explained in light of specific aspects of the workflow and the text type under consideration — patents. Thus, traditional problematic areas of terminography are addressed from a practical perspective, e.g. identifying concepts and terms; attributing a concept to a specific subject field in a multidisciplinary database; multilingual equivalence; quality control in terminology management; building domain ontologies from/in terminology databases. A comprehensive understanding of the PCT Termbase is thereby provided.
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