Presentation given by Duncan White of Marks & Clerk at the IoT Thames Valley Meetup on 21 November 2018

1. Duncan White
Wednesday 21 November 2018
IoT Thames Valley
Protecting your IoT
innovations
Partner

2. © 2017 Marks & Clerk LLP | Marks & Clerk is a registered trade mark.
IoT Architecture
• Sensors
• Devices
• Machines
• Edge Nodes
• Wireless communication
• LAN
• BTLE
• Embedded platforms
• EIS
• Gateways
• Aggregation
• Access
• Storage
• Cloud
• Reporting
• Analytics
• Control
• Solutions
• Satellite
• Cellular
• MVNO
• Fibreoptic
Application
Data storage and
abstraction
Telecoms
Edge computing
Connectivity
IoT devices

3. © 2017 Marks & Clerk LLP | Marks & Clerk is a registered trade mark.
The Convention on European Patents does not define “invention”, but there is a
non-exhaustive list of things that are not ‘inventions’:
• Mere discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods
• Aesthetic creations
• Schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or
doing business, and programs for computers
• Mere presentations of information
Inventions

4. © 2017 Marks & Clerk LLP | Marks & Clerk is a registered trade mark.
Patents have been granted in the EPO in the following subject matter areas:
Computer implemented inventions at the EPO

5. © 2017 Marks & Clerk LLP | Marks & Clerk is a registered trade mark.
Basically two types:
• Inventions that make a real world difference to the functioning of the computer
or system internally
• Inventions that have a real world effect externally that is not in excluded subject
matter (A technical effect on an external process)
With regard to “internal” inventions the question is:
• whether the effect is produced irrespective of the data being processed or the
applications being run
• whether the claimed technical effect results in the computer being made to
operate in a new way
• whether there is an increase in the speed or reliability of the computer
Computer implemented inventions - patentable

6. Contacts
© 2017 Marks & Clerk LLP | Marks & Clerk is a registered trade mark.
Duncan White
dwhite@marks-clerk.com
01865 397 900
Fletcher House (2nd floor)
Heatley Road
The Oxford Science Park
Oxford
OX4 4GE