How to Improve the English-Material-Reporting Method in Teaching

Foreign Patent Laws?

Chih-Chieh Yang

Professor, Institute of Technology Law, National Yunlin University of Science & Technology, 123University Road, Section

3, Yunlin, Taiwan

Keywords: Technology universities, foreign patent law, English-Material-Reporting Method, teaching material, action

research

Abstract: In the past, when teaching foreign law in graduate school classes, teachers would assign foreign (English)

legal material to students, asking them to read and prepare at home by themselves without any help and to then

make a presentation in class. The teacher would comment and offer some supplementary explanation. Due to

the lower birth rate in Taiwan, the knowledge and level of English language for graduate students are getting

worse. If the teacher does not help students with some Chinese material for reference, then the students will

feel frustrated in the process of preparation. After the class presentation, students will vehemently reject

learning more about foreign law and related topics. This study uses the Action Research method. First, the

researcher assigns cases and delivers English material about foreign patent law to students. Second, Chinese

supporting materials are offered. When the students make a presentation in class, their performances are

observed and recorded. At the end of this experiment, the students are asked whether the improved method of

teaching foreign law raised their learning interests in foreign patent law. The students seem to be more

interested in foreign patent law when using this method.

1 RESEARCH MOTIVES

Since the mid-1990s, Europe, USA, Japan and China,

has been the main innovation centres for Industry 4.0

technologies. The patents relating Industry 4.0

technologies are focused on the manufacturing

process, such as prediction of energy consumption

via smart energy systems, improved product lifecycle

management, including recycling, reducing

greenhouse gas emissions.

Any manufacturers who want to expand its

manufacturing capacities to other countries need to

master related patents system in these countries. For a

student who wants to be an international legal and

patent professional personnel in the 21st century, he

must has the passions and ability to learn the patent

laws of other countries. Furthermore, for driving

Industry 4.0 sustainably, research institutes and

universities must provide adequate support for

infrastructure development. Transfer of university

created intellectual property such as patents to

industries also enable sustainable Industry 4.0

implementation. These kinds of cooperation and

technology transfer need the professional personnel

who specialized at laws (especially patent laws) of

different countries.

However, against this background, due to the

lower birth rate in Taiwan, the knowledge and level

of English language for graduate students are getting

worse. What the teaching method the teacher could

use to improve the passions and ability of these

students in learning other countries patent laws

becomes critical issues.

1.1 Traditional Teaching of Foreign

Law

Law schools in Taiwan focus on comparative studies,

especially comparisons among German, Japanese,

and American law. As the laws of these countries are

frequently taken into consideration in the speculation,

modification, and application of Taiwan's own laws,

great emphasis is placed on analyzing them during

instruction at the country's law schools.

For comparative teaching, instruction at private

law schools runs something along the lines of (1) the

teacher gives lectures (for the first one-third or first

one-half of the semester); and (2) the students write a

168

Chih Chieh, Y.

How to Improve the English-Material-Reporting Method in Teaching Foreign Patent Laws?.

DOI: 10.5220/0010170900002967

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of Vocational Higher Education (ICVHE 2019) - Empowering Human Capital Towards Sustainable 4.0 Industry, pages 168-174

ISBN: 978-989-758-530-2; ISSN: 2184-9870

report on designated foreign court's judgments or

legislative materials (for the remaining two-thirds or

second-half of the semester). The teacher prepares

foreign court's judgments or materials in advance and

asks the students to read them and make a

presentation—the teacher than comments on the

presentation of offers supplementary explanations.

Figure 1: Traditional Teaching of Foreign Laws in Taiwan

1.2 The Students Become Less

Academically Competent, Are

Reluctant to Read English

Materials and Refuse to Acquire the

Knowledge of Relevant Fields Due

to a Negative Feeling in Class

Because of the low birth rate in recent years in

Taiwan, the number of Taiwanese students is

gradually dropping. Taiwanese graduates have also

become less academically competent and are

reluctant to read English materials. They put forth

less effort on writing a report on books about foreign

law. The researcher has found that some students use

Google to translate their reports when they are asked

to make a presentation on the designated English

books in class. These reports are of low quality.

The most severe problem is that if the teacher

does not offer assistance, the students find it

extremely difficult to prepare the presentation and

then have a negative feeling. If the teacher points out

the mistakes in the presentation afterwards or

criticizes the students for not trying their best, the

students do not review what they have done, but

instead, complain that they did not learn anything

from the teacher. As a result, some students do not

become more interested in the course or the field after

finishing the course. Moreover, they become more

reluctant to read books about foreign laws and try to

evade teachers who specialize in foreign laws and

their research methods by no longer taking their

courses or not choosing them as a class instructor.

The low birth rate in Taiwan has led to lower

quality and less foreign language proficiency of

students. This trend will not change and will become

increasingly severe. If the teacher (including the

researcher) expects students to continue to show

interest in foreign laws and law expertise, then he/she

must change teaching methods and strategies. At the

very least, he/she must ensure that the students will

become interested in the course and foreign laws after

teaching rather than becoming repulsive to them.

1.3 Apart from Assigning Foreign

Books, the Teacher Should Offer

Chinese Reference Materials

If a teacher continues to adopt the traditional teaching

of foreign laws by assigning foreign books without

offering supporting Chinese materials, then the

students will feel seriously frustrated in their

preparation of presentation and will not know where

to find Chinese reference materials. They will have

stronger negative feelings if they are criticized for

their poor presentation. Consequently, they will not

develop an interest in gaining such knowledge, but

rather become strongly repulsive to it. In the future,

they will try to avoid choosing similar courses or

using foreign languages to finish theses, which will

fail in transforming them into international

professionals.

According to the researcher's experience, students

are expected to read books about foreign laws.

However, if they are provided with supporting

Chinese materials, primarily ones are written or

How to Improve the English-Material-Reporting Method in Teaching Foreign Patent Laws?

169

collected by teachers, then their frustration in the

preparation of their presentation will be reduced.

Moreover, if the teacher decreases criticism and

increases praise after the presentation, then the

students will become more confident and interested

in what is taught and even become eager to write a

follow-up paper about relevant issues.

2 RESEARCH PURPOSE

2.1 How to Develop Students' Interest

in the Knowledge of Foreign Laws

in the Presentation

According to the above observation, the researcher

believes that the traditional teaching of foreign law

must be improved. For the teaching of U.S. patent

laws, for instance, the teacher should not only assign

the English version of the American Patent Law to

underachievers but also volunteer to offer to support

Chinese materials (written by others or by the

teacher) to help the students prepare their

presentation. In this way, the students would not feel

too frustrated in the preparation or the process of

presentation; instead, they can obtain a sense of

achievement and become interested in relevant fields.

In this study, the researcher plans to assign

designated English cases or theses about the patent

laws of foreign countries (including the U.S. and

some European countries) to students in the teaching

of "Patent Laws" and "International Intellectual

Property Right" in the Graduate School of Science

and Technology Law at National Yunlin University

of Science and Technology where the researcher

works as a teacher. The students are required to make

a presentation based on the designated materials.

Moreover, the researcher will volunteer to provide

the students with supporting Chinese materials that

have been written or published and inform them of

the sources of other supporting Chinese materials.

2.2 Observe the Performance and

Reaction of the Students in the

Preparation of Their Presentation

and Their Attitude Afterwards

For the teaching aspect, the teacher will observe

the students' preparation of their presentation and

their performance and ask for their thoughts after the

presentation, so as to see if such teaching has

motivated them to become more interested in foreign

law and become more willing to write theses about

relevant issues and even seek a job as a legal

professional in a Taiwan-based foreign company like

Southeast Asia Corporation.

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

3.1 Emphasis Is Placed on the Patent

Laws of Taiwan, the U.S., and

China in the Teaching of

Intellectual Property Rights in

Taiwan

Intellectual property rights institutes or scientific and

technological law institutes have been established in

university standard or a university of science and

technology in Taiwan since 2004. According to the

overall curricular planning, much focus is placed on

the teaching and research of the patent laws of

Taiwan and the U.S. (Chang and Yang, 2016).

As Taiwanese companies of science and

technology often apply for patents in the U.S. or

sometimes are accused of patent infringement by big

companies in the U.S., much attention is paid to the

teaching and research of American patent laws in the

education on scientific and technological laws in

Taiwan. In addition, many research achievements

have been attained, such as Transnational Patent

Infringement Litigation (Volume 2: American Patent

Litigation) compiled by the Intellectual Property

Institute of National Chengchi University (Chen,

Chou, Wang, and Teng, 2008), American Patent Law

and Important Cases by Chih-Chieh Yang, Graduate

School of Science and Technology Law at National

Yunlin University of Science and Technology (Yang

ed., 2015), and The Scientific and Technological

Industries in Taiwan: A Review on American Patent

Litigations over the Past 30 Years by several teachers

from School of Law, National Chiao Tung University

(Liu and Chen eds., 2017). The publication of these

textbooks demonstrates that emphasis was placed on

the education of American patent laws in the teaching

of foreign law in the Taiwanese education system on

scientific and technological patent laws due to the

influence of scientific and technological

entrepreneurs.

Over the past two decades, many Taiwanese

entrepreneurs have established manufacturing

factories in Mainland China, but since 2005,

Mainland China has become increasingly

international in terms of patent laws, and so these

Taiwanese entrepreneurs have also patented their

products there. This has contributed to the increasing

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number of patent applications and litigation cases

there. The development of law in Taiwan started

earlier than that in Mainland China, and the wording

and system of patent laws in Mainland China were

influenced by Taiwanese laws; therefore, it is

believed that because the patent laws in Taiwan are

well taught, the students will be able to study the

patent laws of Mainland China all by themselves.

Thus, no particular attention has been paid to the

research and teaching of the patent laws of Mainland

China, and as a result textbooks about the patent laws

of Mainland China are small in number in Taiwan.

Despite this, some research and teaching

achievements about the patent laws of Mainland

China have been published, including Transnational

Patent Infringement Litigation (Volume 3: Chinese

Patent Litigation) by the Graduate Institute of

Technology & Innovation Management, National

Chengchi University (Chen, Chou, Wang, and Teng,

2008). The number is still much smaller than that of

American patent laws.

As the resources about American patent laws have

become increasingly abundant, it has now easier for

the students of the institute to collect relevant

Chinese materials when they are required to make a

presentation about American patent court's

judgments or related legal materials. The teacher

sometimes even provides them with supporting

Chinese materials to help them with the presentation.

3.2 Curricular Planning Is Underlined

in Education for Intellectual

Property Talents

As for the education of patents and intellectual

property talents in Taiwan, the Ministry of Education

has verified the establishment of four scientific and

technological law departments since 2004. In

addition, the Ministry of Economic Affairs founded

the Intellectual Property Training Academy in 2005.

However, over 2004-2015 when the education for

patent talents was initiated and developed, there were

no academic papers about the education for

intellectual property or patent talents in Taiwan.

It was not until 2015 that the Technological and

Vocational Division of the Ministry of Education

decided to make an overall evaluation of the work in

this aspect over the past ten years. It authorized the

Graduate School of Science and Technology Law at

National Yunlin University of Science and

Technology to conduct a thorough study of the

curricular designs and plans of Taiwanese

educational institutions of intellectual property and

patents, including the education for patent talents in

the technological and vocational system. The study

was supported by the research program of

"Intellectual Property and Patent Management

Education Training Curriculum (Forum) of

Technological and Vocational Schools" co-chaired

by the applicant, Chih-Chieh Yang (Chang and Yang,

2016).

With the support of the research program, an

overall evaluation of the curricular planning and

faculties of the intellectual property department, the

patent department, and the science and technology

department of four universities of science and

technology (National Yunlin University of Science

and Technology, National Kaohsiung University of

Science and Technology (First Campus), National

Taiwan University of Science and Technology, and

National Taipei University of Technology) was

conducted. According to the findings of the

evaluation, the emphasis is placed on Taiwanese

patent laws and regulations, patent application review

practices, and patent infringement settlements in the

courses for patent students. Particular attention

should be paid to education on the patent laws of

European countries, the U.S., and Japan. Nearly all

the universities offer courses about the patent laws of

these three, but the courses about American patent

laws account for the largest proportion.

The research program called on many scholars to

explore and compare foreign teaching and training of

patent students, but as the focus was put on the patent

markets in Europe, the U.S., and Japan, the research

program merely delved into the training of patent

students in these countries. Relevant academic

materials include the "Qualification Limitation

Examination for American Patent Practitioners" by

Meng-che Tien (Chang and Yang, 2016; 128-140),

the "Patent Talent Examination and Intellectual

Property Education in Japan" co-authored by

Chih-Chieh Yang and Yasuto Shirae (Yang and

Shirae, 2016: 27-57), and the "Current Training of

E.U. Patent Agents and Patent Legal Workers and

Norms on Transnational Practice" by Li-Chun Chen

(Chen, 2015: 115-130).

4 RESEARCH METHOD

4.1 Description of the Research

This program reviews the researcher's teaching in two

courses in the institute, including "Patent Law" in the

autumn semester of 2018 and "International

Intellectual Property Right" in the spring semester of

How to Improve the English-Material-Reporting Method in Teaching Foreign Patent Laws?

171

2019. These two courses will be taken for the

research contrast.

In the course of "Patent Law" in the autumn

semester of 2018, the teacher offered the English

cases of foreign patent laws and the Chinese

introductory materials that are written in advance to

help the students with the presentation. The students

were informed of the sources of other supporting

Chinese materials. The students' academic

performance in the preparation and their thoughts and

attitudes in the presentation were also observed.

In the course of "International Intellectual

Property Rights" in the spring semester of 2019, the

teacher did not volunteer to help the students collect

the English theses about foreign patent laws, but did

lead them to seek out academic materials suitable for

them. After the students obtained relevant materials,

the teacher did not provide the Chinese introductory

materials or the sources of these materials. The

students' performance in the preparation and the

presentation were then observed.

4.2 Research Procedure

4.2.1 Research Hypotheses

According to the researcher's experience in teaching,

the applicant wants to add the knowledge of many

European and American laws into the courses and ask

students to read designated English materials

(English theses or court's cases) to make a

presentation, and the teacher is expected to make

comments on the presentation. However, as the

students from the universities of science and

technology have become less academically

competent in a second language like English, they

will feel frustrated in the study if they are asked to

read English materials without any supporting

Chinese materials. As a result, they will be reluctant

to prepare their presentation. Moreover, they will

have negative feelings after the teacher makes

comments on their presentation. This will stop them

from comprehending the subject further or even

becoming interested in foreign law.

This study, therefore, assumes that as long as the

teacher offers more supporting Chinese materials, the

students will not have negative feelings in the

preparation of their presence even if they are asked to

make a presentation about the cases (in English) of

American or Southeastern Asian patent laws. They

will then become interested in these laws.

4.2.2 Research Structure

Figure 2: Research Structure.

4.2.3 Research Methods and Tools

Two research methods are adopted in this research

program, including (1) participants' observations and

(2) questionnaires.

Participants' Observations. Participants'

observations are employed in this study. The

researcher reviews the teaching designs and methods,

the students' immediate feedback in teaching, and

on-site observations.

Questionnaire.

After the in-class presentations, the

questionnaires are distributed among the students.

The research also collects the students' feedback

through after-class questionnaires or their opinions

on teaching to find out if the teaching methods are

valid and in order to make the necessary

improvement.

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5 RESEARCH RESULTS

5.1 Patent Law

In the course of "Patent Law" in the autumn semester

of 2018, the teacher offered the English court's

judgments of foreign patent laws and the Chinese

introductory materials that are written in advance to

help the students with their presentation. The students

were informed of the sources of other supporting

Chinese materials. The students' academic

performance in the preparation and their thoughts and

attitudes in the presentation were observed.

Of the 13 students who took the course, three had

low English proficiency and thus chose to make a

presentation about the cases of Chinese patent laws,

while the remaining ten wanted to take the challenge

of learning English judgments of foreign countries

and thus chose English cases.

As for the supporting Chinese materials for the

presentation, all of the ten students who chose

English court's judgments agreed that the supporting

Chinese materials were constructive for them (eight

for "Strongly agree" and two for "Agree"). All of

them (seven for "Strongly agree" and three for

"Agree") said that they collected other supporting

Chinese materials online and knew that these

materials would help them understand the importance

of English court's judgments.

As for whether the students become more

interested in the study of patent laws after the course,

nine of the ten students who made an English

presentation showed interest in patent laws. Despite

that three students did not make an English

presentation, all of the 13 students became interested

in intellectual property laws after the course (four for

"Strongly agree" and nine for "Agree"), and 11 of

them were willing to read more English court's

judgments and materials (four for "Strongly agree"

and seven for "Agree") while the remaining two said

they were reluctant to read more English materials.

5.2 International Intellectual Property

Right

In the course of "International Intellectual Property

Rights" in the spring semester of 2019, the teacher

did not volunteer to help the students collect the

English theses about foreign patent laws, but did lead

them to seek educational materials suitable for them.

After the students obtained relevant materials, the

teacher did not provide the Chinese introductory

materials or the sources of these materials. The

students' performances in their preparation and

presentation were observed.

The number of students who took the course and

filled out the questionnaire was 11. All of them made

a presentation based on the English theses about

foreign laws concerning intellectual property rights.

The presentation was made either in pairs or

individually.

As for the background of the students, only five of

them admitted that it was hard for them to read

English materials, while the remaining six said it was

not difficult for them. Eight of them acknowledged

that they utilized Google to facilitate their translation

of the English materials. This indicates that the

English proficiency of the students was not high.

As for the preparation of the presentation, eight of

the students knew that they needed to collect

supporting Chinese materials online, because they

were not offered any Chinese materials by the teacher

(two for "Strongly agree" and six for "Agree"), and

seven of them hoped that the teacher would provide

Chinese materials (two for "Strongly agree" and five

for "Agree"). However, they did not show much

passion for learning, and none of them turned to the

teacher for help. Nine of them agreed that their

presentation would have been better if the teacher had

offered to support Chinese materials (three for

"Strongly agree" and six for "Agree"). Ten of them

found excitement in the preparation, but three felt

frustrated.

As for whether the students became more

interested in the study of intellectual property rights

after the course, eleven students said that they did

become interested in the topic (two for "Strongly

agree" and nine for "Agree"). The so-called

intellectual property rights were not international

intellectual property rights, which involve foreign

countries and the English language. Only eight of the

students showed interest in intellectual property

rights (three for "Strongly agree" and five for

"Agree"). Three of them might not be interested in it.

When it came to the intention of reading more

English court's judgments or materials, nine of them

said that they were willing to read more (two for

"Strongly agree" and seven for "Agree").

5.3 Comparative Analysis

In the comparison of the two courses, the teacher

volunteered to offer to support Chinese materials and

the students knew that they would need to seek more

Chinese materials all by themselves to expand their

knowledge and to understand the English court's

judgments for their presentation in the course of

How to Improve the English-Material-Reporting Method in Teaching Foreign Patent Laws?

173

"Patent Law". However, the teacher did not offer any

supporting Chinese materials, and many of the

students turned to Google for help and did not search

for relevant Chinese materials by themselves in the

course of "International Intellectual Property Rights".

Despite that they expected help from the teacher,

none of them turned to the teacher for help.

In terms of passion for learning after the course,

most of the students who took the two courses said

that they became interested in domestic and

international patent laws and intellectual property

rights. It seems that there was no difference between

the two kinds of teaching. To see the detail, in the

course of "Patent Law", four of the students strongly

agreed that they had a passion for foreign patent

laws"; comparatively, in the course of "International

Intellectual Property Rights", only two students said

that they would show a keen interest in foreign

international intellectual property rights or English

materials. In other words, different teaching methods

influenced the students' enthusiasm for studying

foreign patent laws.

6 CONCLUSIONS

According to the above results, the original

assumption of this study is "The courses must not be

taught in English and must be supported with

corresponding Chinese textbooks to prevent the

students from having any negative feeling and arouse

their interest in foreign knowledge." After the

implementation of the different types of teaching in

the two courses, this assumption was supported. Due

to low English proficiency and inadequate expertise,

most of the students found it hard to read the

designated materials about foreign patent laws or

intellectual property rights and expected help from

the teacher, primarily through supporting Chinese

materials. Although the students were aware of the

importance of supporting Chinese materials, they

showed a passive attitude. In other words, when the

teacher did not volunteer to provide supporting

Chinese materials, they did not turn to the teacher for

help and instead turned to Google for help in

translation.

As for the enhancement of passion for learning,

different kinds of teaching were adopted in these two

courses. The after-course questionnaire showed that

most of the students became interested in patent laws

or intellectual property rights after the courses, but

only a few of them showed keen interest. As the

teacher offered help in the course of "Patent Law",

four of the students showed keen interest. In contrast,

only two of the students showed a strong interest in

the course of "International Intellectual Property

Rights", where the teacher did not offer help.

It can, therefore, be concluded that if the teacher

wants to arouse students' interest in the study of

foreign patent laws or intellectual property rights,

then the teacher should offer foreign materials and

supporting Chinese materials and other kinds of help

so that students would be able to gain a sense of

achievement in the preparation of their presentation

rather than having any negative feeling. Only in this

way will students develop a more substantial interest

in learning after the course ends.

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Tien, M. C. (2016), Qualification Limitation Examination

for American Patent Practitioners, from the final report

of "Intellectual Property and Patent Management

Education Training Curriculum (Forum) presided over

by Chang, K.H., Yang, C.C., pp. 128-140, April 2016.

Shirae, Y, Yang, C. C. (2016), Patent Talent Examination

and Intellectual Property Education in Japan, Taiwan

Patent Attorneys Journal, (24), pp. 27-57, January

2016.

Chang, K.H., Final report of "Intellectual Property and

Patent Management Education Training Curriculum

(Forum) chaired by Chih-Chieh Yang, Ministry of

Education, April 2016.

Chen, Y. T., Chou, Y. P., Wang, C. S., Teng, Y. M. (2008),

Transnational Patent Infringement Litigation (Volume

2: American Patent Litigation), Angel, September

2008.

Chen, Y. T., Chou, Y. P., Wang, C. S., Teng, Y. M. (2008),

Transnational Patent Infringement Litigation (Volume

3: Chinese Patent Litigation), Angel, September 2008.

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Practice, Taiwan Patent Attorneys Journal, (23), pp.

115-130, October 2015.

Yang, C. C. (2015), American Patent Law and Important

Cases, Wu Nan Books, October 2015.

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Technological Industries in Taiwan: A Review on

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