This page is an FAQ based on guidance from the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. It is provided as guidance, with links to the ground truth sources. This is information only: it is not legal advice.
Language-dependent free text qualifiers are specific qualifiers in a “Sequence Listing XML” that may require translation for national, regional, or international procedures. As explained in MPEP 2413.01(h):
“Language-dependent free text is the free text value of certain qualifiers that is language-dependent in that it may require translation for national, regional or international procedures.”
These qualifiers are identified in Tables 5 and 6 of WIPO Standard ST.26, Annex I, for nucleotide and amino acid sequences respectively. Examples include ‘note’, ‘organism’, ‘function’, and ‘product’. The free text for these qualifiers must be provided in English in the INSDQualifier_value element, and optionally in another language in the NonEnglishQualifier_value element.