專利在當今不只是個人發明創作的保護，更是企業併購、策略聯盟、侵權訴訟的談判籌碼和競爭利器，甚至是每年全球競爭力評比的重要指標。專利申請、授權、和訴訟過程的依據是專利說明書，而界定發明在法律上受保護的範圍則是「申請專利範圍」（patent claims）。因此，「申請專利範圍」的翻譯是創新技術、專利語言、和法律規範的專業整合與轉換，轉換成符合他國法律規範和官方語言所撰寫出的發明保護範圍，以利獲取他國的專利權。若專利申請人為了取得較早的申請日，以外文本先行遞交專利專責機關，隨後於官方指定期間內補呈的譯本，還會增加一條法律限制——不可超出原外文本所揭露的範圍。由此可知，「申請專利範圍」的翻譯品質攸關專利的獲證及有效與否，因此從「申請專利範圍」文本的對比分析、請求項用語的對比分析和專利法規的對比分析，到專利翻譯的目的、譯者、和流程，都有研究的必要和迫切性。
本文主要是從不同層面探究影響「申請專利範圍」翻譯的多種因素，提出「申請專利範圍」的翻譯策略和方法。首先，以台灣和美國的「申請專利範圍」文本及相關法規為研究對象進行對比功能分析，接著比較不同的翻譯目的和不同的申請途徑所產生的翻譯差異，最後討論專利產業中，譯者在工作流程裡的角色定位。在理論面，是以德國功能學派的翻譯理論為框架，先以凱瑟琳娜．萊斯（Katharina Reiss）的文本類型學（text typology）和蘇珊．格弗里奇（Susanne Göferich）的專業語言文本類型學（LSP text typology）探討「申請專利範圍」的文本類型，接著再以漢斯．弗米爾（Hans J. Vermeer）的目的論（Skopostheorie）說明專利翻譯的目的和申請途徑的不同如何影響「申請專利範圍」譯文的差異。最後，透過專利論壇的討論及專利從業者的訪談，對照霍爾茲–曼塔利（Justa Holz-Mänttäri）的翻譯行為（translation action）和克里絲汀．諾德（Christiane Nord）的功能加忠誠（function-plus-loyalty）理論，進行實務和理論的相互驗證。
　　研究結果顯示，若把「申請專利範圍」，如同專利說明書一樣地歸類到資訊型文本（informative text）和法律規範文本（juridical–normative text），仍然無法指導實務上的翻譯問題，而需進一步根據當時翻譯的目的和譯文讀者，以及專利申請的途徑和法規來決定「申請專利範圍」的翻譯策略和方法。例如:翻譯的目的是為了取得專利權，那麼專利申請的途徑是採臨時申請案或非臨時申請案？是專利合作條約的國際階段或國家階段？是以譯本直接申請或是在指定時間內補呈譯本？這些在翻譯過程必須確認的問題，是為了避免不適當的翻譯策略和方法可能造成專利的核駁或無效，進而影響客戶端龐大的人力、時間、和權益耗損。再者，專利從業中較具聲譽的法律事務所和專利事務所，將專利申請的文件委託簽約的譯者，初稿翻譯完成再轉交以譯文為母語的譯者進行潤稿，譯者還需與本國專利事務所、外國專利律師或代理人、甚至是發明人進行多次溝通和確認，並且在時限內將譯本遞送他國的專利專責機關。因此，專利產業中的譯者需具備高度的專業及責任感才能符合客戶對於品質和時效的要求。
研究結果確認功能加忠誠的翻譯原則對於專利產業十分重要，也證明了對比功能分析法運用於「申請專利範圍」翻譯及其研究的實用性。本文無法對於所提的各項議題進行深入探討，但是衷心期盼能引起更多翻譯研究者和跨領域研究者投入「申請專利範圍」翻譯的研究。

Nowadays patents are used not only as protection for individual inventions, but also as bargaining counters and competitive weapons for business acquisitions, strategic alliances, and infringement litigation. In addition, patents are important indices for annual global competitiveness ratings. A patent specification is the core document for patent application, licensing, and litigation; patent claims further define the scope of legal protection of an invention. As a result, patent claim translation requires integrating the knowledge of innovative technology, patent language, and law; transferring it to comply with other countries’ laws and regulations; and then drafting the scope of invention in the respective local official language to obtain effective patent rights in foreign countries. Consequently, there is an urgent necessity for research from contrastive text analysis, contrastive language analysis, and contrastive regulations analysis of patent claims to the purposes, translators, and workflows in order to achieve high-quality patent claim translation.
The research aims to explore a range of factors which may affect the translation of patent claims and to propose sound translation strategies and methods for patent translators. The research methods and subjects involved contrastive and comparative analyses of the texts, text types, and laws and regulations of Taiwan and US patent claims; comparative analyses of the purposes of patent translation and different methods of filing patent applications; and investigations on translation workflows and translators’ role and orientation in the patent industry. The thesis was grounded in German Functionalist translation theory. First, Katharina Reiss’ Text Typology and Susanne Göferich’s LSP text Typology was employed to probe the text type of patent claims. Then, Hans J. Vermeer’s Skopos theory was used to illustrate how different purposes and methods of filing patent applications resulted in different translations of the same original. Finally, Justa Holz-Mänttäri’s translational action and Christiane Nord’s function-plus-loyalty principle were adopted to verify patent translator’s communicative action in the patent industry.
The research results indicated that the text type analysis of patent claims, classified as informative and juridical-normative texts as a patent specification, was an inadequate guide for the solution of translation problems. Other factors which should also be taken into account are the purpose and the reader of a translation, and patent-filing methods with relevant laws and regulations, in order to avoid inappropriate translation strategy and method, which may cause the patent to be rejected or invalidated, resulting in the loss of enormous manpower, time, rights and interests of clients. Furthermore, well-known law firms and patent firms submit patent document to contracted patent translators, and the translated patent document is then sent to native speaker translators for proofreading. The translators double check the document’s translation by communicating with the patent practitioners of the original country, patent practitioners of the foreign country, and even the inventor. The translation of a patent document can only be submitted to a patent authority subsequent to such confirmation. Consequently, patent translators should be highly professional and responsible to meet client’s requirements for quality and timeliness.
In summary, this study underscores the importance of the function-plus-loyalty principle in the patent industry and confirms the practicality of contrastive functional analysis methodology as applied to patent claim translation and its studies. While this study is inadequate for the purpose of in-depth investigation, the researcher anticipates it will serve as a basis for further interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research.

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