I have followed this thread for a few days and I would like now to add some
comments on TM's.

I have been a sworn translator in Spain for more than 20 years. In this time
I have worked as an in-house translator, as an independent, free-lance
translator, as a main contractor, as a sub-contractor, etc. And it seems
clear to me that, in a professional deal with a client, the translator
should deliver just what he is being requested to deliver, provided that
both parties have reached an agreement on the services to be rendered and
the consideration for them.

Thus, If a client of mine orders a translation (just a translation, at XXX
money units per hundred or thousand words), I will deliver the translation
requested. As a "by-product" I will surely produce a small glossary at the
least. Maybe a translation memory, provided that the original document is
suitable for the purpose. But all those by-products will be mine and I will
see how to use them according to ethics and to the codes of conduct
generally accepted in this profession. After doing a few translations for
the same client and in the same field, I could explore some 'commercial'
posibilities. For instance, I could offer to prepare, based on my own
glossaries and on additional research, a specific glossary for the client.
Or I could tell them about translation memories and offer to compile one for
them (on the basis of my own one(s) and maybe incorporating some new pairs
or some corrections or changes). In any case, these would be different
transactions that should be agreed separately on the basis of reasonable
consideration.

Let's now look at the issue from another point of view. I'm in charge of a
large translation assignment (be it as an in-house or external project
manager, or just as a contractor who has to share the contract with some
other translators to meet the deadline). If the original document is
suitable for the purpose, I would ask all translators to build up, share and
deliver specific translation memories--and would pay for it! Or I would
compile a glossary and send it to all translators involved--and this would
be a factor to be accounted for at the time of agreeing the translators'
fees. In the case of the translation memory, provided that I have bought it,
next time I had to do a similar translation I could share the translation
with the same translators or with other ones using TM technologies, because
I would have a translation memory that could be used for all of us. And, as
in the case of the preliminary glossary, this would be a factor to be
accounted for at the time of agreeing the translators' fees.

In fact, I would say that a deal is a fair deal provided that the buyer gets
what he is paying for and the seller gets an appropriate consideration for
all what he is delivering. I would not mention issues such as intellectual
property, as they are dealt with differently from one country to another,
and even in the same country depending on whether you aree translating
something subject to intellectual property rights (in which case the
translator might be entitled to intellectual property rights on his work) or
not.

Best regards

Pedro Satué
Sworn Translator (EN>ES) / Traductor Jurado
Satué & Rowe, S.L. - Seville, Spain 
Phone/Tel.: +34 954 094 094
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