The founder of Lise & Partners, Inc. comes from a background in engineering and has broad and intensive experience in providing patent translations for a wide spectrum of clients. Born in the US, Lise first came to Japan in 1967 as a language specialist for the US Navy. After returning to the US and obtaining a degree in electrical engineering, he joined what was then Western Electric, and worked in millimeter microwave and fiber optics laboratories. He subsequently joined a major manufacturer of electronic test and measuring instruments, founded its Japan branch, and served as the first branch manager, starting in 1976. Lise shortly transitioned to translation and interpreting as a full-time activity, establishing the forerunner of Lise & Partners, Inc., and has since been deeply involved in patent translation and in interpreting for US patent litigation involving Japanese entities.
Professional Affiliations & Certifications
Member of the American Translators Association and certified as a Japanese-to-English translation by the ATA.
Founding member and multiple-term past President of Japan Association of Translators
Patent Translation Experience
Approximately 30 years of experience translating for a wide variety of clients, this work including:
- Extensive translation of patent specifications for Japanese manufacturers, US law firms, and Japanese patent firms for filing overseas. This translation has included translation for direct US filing and translation for PCT route filing. Of late, most such for-filing translation work is at the behest of Japanese manufacturers.
- Certified patent translation for use in patent litigation.
- Translation of trial judgments in litigation in Japan.
- Translation of evidence submitted in patent litigation.
- Translation of briefs and other documents submitted in patent litigation in Japan.
- Rendering of opinions and testifying as an expert witness with regard to translation in civil litigation.
- Typical subject matter fields: Lise has a broad range of experience in translating patent documents, both patent specifications for filing and documents related to subsequent patent prosecution and litigation.
Litigation and Other Legal-Matter Interpreting
- More than 25 years of deposition interpreting experience for patent litigation in the US.
- Lise is one of the very few native-English-speaking interpreters working in Japan having both an engineering background and extensive deposition interpreting experience.
- Licensing negotiation interpreting assignment consisting of monthly visits to numerous Japanese firms with a licensing/patent team from the US.
- Interpreting at strategy meetings between manufacturers and their US counsel.
- Interpreting at meetings between a foreign inventor and a Japanese patent/law firms, including presentations of the invention before a board of Japanese patent examiners.
- Interpreting at patent licensing meetings between engineers of US and Japanese firms.
- On-site discovery, site translation, and triaging of discovery documents in Japan.
Exemplary Publications and Presentations
"Patent Translation: What's it All About." Presented at the 19th International Japanese/English Translation Conference in Okinawa, April 12-13, 2008.
Ch. 5 of Morita, Y. ed. Japanese Patent Translation Handbook. Alexandria: American Translators Association, 1997.
"Japanese/English Deposition Interpreting" presented at the 19th International Japanese-English Translation Conference (IJET-19). Chicago: Japan Association of Translators, 2005.
"Japanese-English Patent Translation for Filing in the US" (Workshop presented at the Ninth International Japanese/English Translation Conference (IJET-9), held in Yokohama in 1998).
"The For-Filing J-E Patent Translation Market in Japan" December 1999 Japan Association of Translators JAT Bulletin.
" Survey of Terminology and Syntax in Japanese and US Patents and the Implications for the Patent Translator" Proceedings of the Fifth International Japanese-English Translation Conference (IJET-5). Tokyo: Japan Association of Translators, 1994.
"An Introduction to Japanese-English Deposition Interpreting" 6th International Japanese-English Translation Conference. Vancouver, May 26, 1995.
"Symbols, Abbreviations and Layout Problems Facing the J-E Translator" Eighth International Conference on Japanese/English Translation and Interpreting (IJET-8) held in Sheffield, UK. The IJET 97 Committee, 1997.
"Industrial Manual J-E Translation Workshop" Proceedings of the 3rd International Japanese-English Translation Conference. Tokyo: Japan Association of Translators, 1992.
Translation Career Presentations (four times: 2004 to 2007) at the behest of the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR) for participants in their JET Programme considering a career in translation.
Numerous other translation articles since 1985 in the JAT Bulletin, the former official organ of the Japan Association of Translators.

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