# How translation and localization agencies can sell data to AI companies URL: https://sellmydatatoai.net/sell-your-data/translation-and-localization-agencies Translation and localization agencies can license translation memories, post-edited machine output, reviewer corrections, term bases and style guides to AI companies. No buyer publishes a translation price range. Two rights decide most deals: the client usually controls the source text under its services agreement and NDA, and a freelance translator owns the translation unless a signed work made for hire agreement or assignment says otherwise. ## Key takeaways - AI buyers most want these records from translation and localization agencies: (1) translation memories with aligned source and target segments, (2) post-edited machine translation with the raw machine output kept alongside and (3) reviewer and language quality assessment corrections with error categories. - No AI buyer publishes a price range for translation and localization agencies yet, so value depends on volume, years of history, structure and how cleanly the rights can be shown. - The first rights issue to clear: Client services agreements and NDAs that keep source documents and translations confidential to the client. This page covers 5 more. - Sellers pay nothing to be assessed. We charge a success fee only when a deal completes, and the fee is agreed in writing before we introduce you to any buyer. ## At a glance - Records buyers ask for: Translation memories with aligned source and target segments; Post-edited machine translation with the raw machine output kept alongside; Reviewer and language quality assessment corrections with error categories; Term bases and glossaries by domain and language pair; Style guides and locale guidelines your own team wrote; Translator queries and notes on ambiguous source text - Why buyers want them: Parallel text with human corrections is scarce for many language pairs. Defined.ai lists machine translation among its services and lets vetted partners sell datasets, and the Linguistic Data Consortium publishes contributed corpora described with ISO 639-3 language codes. - Rights issues: Client services agreements and NDAs that keep source documents and translations confidential to the client; Translator copyright: a translation is a derivative work under 17 U.S.C. section 101, owned by a freelancer unless a signed work made for hire agreement or assignment exists; Copyright in the source text stays with its owner under 17 U.S.C. section 103(b), so a translation memory carries two sets of rights; HIPAA: an agency handling patient records for a covered entity is a business associate bound by its contract; Personal data in legal, immigration, medical and HR documents; UK and EU: CDPA section 21 treats translation as an adaptation, and UK GDPR Article 28 limits processors to the client's instructions Every finished translation project leaves behind aligned sentence pairs, a reviewer's corrections and decisions about terminology. For machine translation and multilingual models, that is the hard part to find: human judgment on real text, across language pairs that public data covers thinly. Very little of it belongs to the agency alone. The source text belongs to the client, the translation may belong to a freelancer, and the documents often hold personal data. ## What translation data do AI companies buy? AI companies buy translation data that pairs source text with a human-quality target and shows where people corrected machines. Post-edited machine output kept alongside the raw machine output is especially useful, because the difference between the two is a correction a model can learn from. | Asset | What a buyer uses it for | Main rights question | | --- | --- | --- | | Translation memories | Parallel training data for translation models | Client source copyright and NDA | | Post-edits with raw machine output | Learning from human corrections | Client NDA and machine translation provider terms | | Reviewer and quality corrections | Evaluation and quality estimation | Reviewer contracts | | Term bases and glossaries | Domain terminology | Client-supplied terms | | Your own style and locale guides | Instruction and evaluation data | Usually low if written in-house | Record language pairs, domains, segment counts and date ranges in your [data manifest](https://sellmydatatoai.net/guides/how-to-build-a-data-manifest). Buyers of [multilingual text data](https://sellmydatatoai.net/buy-ai-training-data/multilingual-text-data) check those details first. ## Who buys translation data? Language data buyers are among the few with published supplier routes. [Defined.ai](https://sellmydatatoai.net/data-buyers/defined-ai) lists machine translation among its services and runs a marketplace where vetted partners sell datasets, and it says only 30% of partners are approved after ethical vetting. Submitting its partnership form means accepting its supplier terms, so read them first. The [Linguistic Data Consortium](https://sellmydatatoai.net/data-buyers/linguistic-data-consortium) publishes contributed corpora and asks providers for ISO 639-3 language codes, size, format, origin and collection methods. It does not require exclusive rights and does not describe payments to providers. No buyer publishes a price range for translation data, so a [free data valuation](https://sellmydatatoai.net/data-valuation) is the place to start. ## Who owns a translation memory? A translation memory usually carries at least two sets of rights. Under [17 U.S.C. section 101](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/101), a translation is a derivative work, and under section 103(b) the copyright in a derivative work extends only to the material its author contributed, independent of the copyright in the preexisting work. The client or the original author keeps the rights in the source text. The target text belongs to whoever wrote it, unless a contract says otherwise. Section 101 lists a translation among the commissioned works that can be a work made for hire, but only if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them. Without that agreement or a signed assignment, a freelance translator owns the copyright in their translation. Work by employees within the scope of employment belongs to the agency under section 201(b). Audit your freelancer agreements before you license anything. Where a signed work made for hire clause or assignment exists, you may hold the target text. Where it does not, leave that translator's work out or obtain a written license. ## Do client NDAs stop you licensing translation data? Client NDAs and services agreements often stop you licensing translation data, because the source text is the client's confidential information. Contracts, product documentation before launch, patent filings and internal communications are typical translation work, and an NDA that limits use of confidential information to performing the services rules out a training license. Daniel Goldberg of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein and Selz points out that email and chat records often contain other companies' confidential information covered by NDAs and commercial agreements, and holding a record does not give you the right to sell it. Ask clients for written permission, and license only work from clients who agree and material you created yourself. ## What about personal data in translated documents? Personal data in translated documents is common in legal, immigration, medical and HR work. Birth certificates, court papers and medical reports name individuals and often include sensitive details, so exclude those projects or remove identifiers before anything leaves your systems. Healthcare clients add HIPAA. HHS defines a business associate as a person or entity that performs functions or provides services for a covered entity involving access to protected health information, and says a business associate may use or disclose that information only as permitted or required by its business associate contract. A training license is not normally one of those uses, so leave the material out. > **Ask the right clients first** Long-standing clients with large volumes of non-sensitive content, such as published product documentation or marketing copy, are the easiest to ask for permission. A written client consent and a signed translator assignment together give a buyer a clean [chain of title](https://sellmydatatoai.net/glossary/chain-of-title). ## If you hold UK or EU data UK copyright treats translation the same way. Under [section 21(3) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/21), a translation is an adaptation, and making an adaptation is an act restricted by the copyright in the original work. Agencies that handle client personal data in the UK or EU are usually processors. UK GDPR Article 28(3)(a) requires a processor to process personal data only on documented instructions from the controller, and Article 28(10) says a processor that determines the purposes and means of processing is considered a controller for that processing. ## How do you sell translation data through Sell My Data To AI? You start with a consultation about your language pairs, domains, client terms and freelancer contracts. Sellers pay nothing to be assessed. We charge a success fee only when a deal completes, agreed in writing before we introduce you to any buyer. Before any buyer sees a sample, your data passes our [eight-point vetting standard](https://sellmydatatoai.net/how-we-vet), which covers ownership and chain of title, contract restrictions and third-party content. You approve every buyer, every sample and every license term. [Book a consultation](https://sellmydatatoai.net/book-a-consultation?side=seller) to start. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can a translation agency sell its translation memories? A translation agency can license translation memories only where it holds the rights to both sides. The client usually controls the source text under its services agreement and NDA, and under 17 U.S.C. section 101 a freelancer's translation is a work made for hire only with a signed written agreement. Get client consent and take independent legal advice first. ### Do freelance translators own their translations? In the US, a freelance translator owns the copyright in their translation unless they signed a work made for hire agreement or an assignment. Section 101 of the Copyright Act lists a translation among the commissioned works that can be made for hire, but only if both parties expressly agree in a signed written instrument. Check every freelancer contract before licensing. ### Is post-edited machine translation worth licensing? Post-edited machine translation is most useful when the raw machine output is kept alongside the human edit, because the difference shows a correction a model can learn from. No buyer publishes a price for it. Keep both versions, note the engine and date, and check the machine translation provider's terms before including any output. ### Which buyers accept translation data? Defined.ai lists machine translation among its services and runs a marketplace where vetted partners sell datasets, approving about 30% of partners. The Linguistic Data Consortium publishes contributed language corpora on non-exclusive terms. Neither publishes payout rates for providers, so ask each about terms before you submit anything. ## Sources - [17 U.S. Code section 101: definitions](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/101), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, accessed November 2026 - [17 U.S. Code section 103: subject matter of copyright, compilations and derivative works](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/103), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, accessed November 2026 - [17 U.S. Code section 201: ownership of copyright](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/201), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, accessed November 2026 - [Business associate contracts: sample business associate agreement provisions](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/covered-entities/sample-business-associate-agreement-provisions/index.html), US Department of Health and Human Services, accessed November 2026 - [Selling company data for AI training: what to know before you say yes](https://technologylaw.fkks.com/post/102o455/selling-company-data-for-ai-training-what-to-know-before-you-say-yes), Frankfurt Kurnit Klein and Selz (Daniel Goldberg), accessed November 2026 - [AI marketplace partnerships](https://defined.ai/partnerships), Defined.ai, accessed November 2026 - [Share your data with LDC](https://www.ldc.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/share-data-2023.pdf), Linguistic Data Consortium, accessed November 2026 - [Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 21: infringement by making adaptation](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/21), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 - [UK GDPR Article 28: processor](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2016/679/article/28), legislation.gov.uk, accessed November 2026 --- Book a free consultation: https://sellmydatatoai.net/book-a-consultation