Declaration of Independence

July 4th 2008 is Independence Day for Kilgray.

On that date they have signed a charter committing them to remain an independent technology provider.

“This Declaration is not just about throwing English headquartered translation tools into the Boston Harbor. We see it as a positive charter of rights for LSPs. This Declaration of Independence is a very serious commitment on our part to protect our customer’s best interests. We believe it is important that any claims of independence by translation technology vendors must have real meaning. We also invite other technology companies who share our ideas on independence to join us in signing this Declaration,” - said Istvan Lengyel, chief operating officer of Kilgray.

We, the Signatory Parties believe that technology is crucial to translation and localization service providers. We think it is not an advantage for a company to buy their technology from and depend on one of their competitors.
We believe that companies operating both as language service and language technology providers have a vested interest in providing two-tiered offering. They are bound to keep the most competitive and comprehensive translation technology for themselves, and only release a restricted version to the market. Thus language service companies who buy technology from a competitor cannot be as competitive and productive as those who buy technology from an independent company.

On July 4th, 2008 we have signed this Declaration of Independence that we see as a positive charter of rights for our customers.

We hold the statements below to be irrevocable, because all translation service providers are created equal, they have certain unalienable Rights, that among these are including Foundation, Operation and the Liberty of choosing the right Translation Technology Provider.

Founders of Kilgray, as a pioneer among translation technology providers and the associated Signatory Parties declare that they strive to act in accordance with the following:

It is in the LSPs' interest to buy technology from independent vendors.
The Signatory Parties are committed to remaining an independent vendor.
It is extremely unlikely that the Signatory Parties will find themselves as part of a company owned by a services provider.
In the event we become partly or entirely owned by a language services provider, we warrant that within five years from signature we will return the license fee on request to any LSP who purchased in the year previous to any acquisition.
We, the Signatory Parties hold this Declaration to be irrevocable.
Information is crucial within the language industry and, as a further safeguard for our LSP customers, the Signatory Parties will not request for information from customers that could be useful for a competitor. On the other hand, the Signatory Parties welcome LSPs that want to grow together with them.

We hereby invite fellow technology providers to join us in signing this Declaration.

Signed in Budapest, on July 4th, 2008