By Joe Hoppe
Ocado Group PLC said Thursday that the U.K. High Court has ruled in favor of it on all counts in a patent infringement suit brought by Autostore Holdings Ltd.
The online grocer and retail-technology specialist said that the court found that Norwegian robotics company Autostore’s patents were invalid, and in any case Ocado didn’t infringe them.
The FTSE 100 company said its claims against Autostore for infringing its intellectual property continue in Germany and New Hampshire. This follows a victory for Ocado in March 2022, when the International Trade Commission decided that all of Autostore Holdings Ltd.’s cavity-bot patents are invalid.
Autostore had initially asserted six patents against Ocado in October 2020.
An Ocado spokesperson said the company intends to seek a significant costs order against Autostore.
“As we have said consistently since the day the action was launched that we did not infringe any valid Autostore patents. Once again a judge has proved we are right,” an Ocado spokesperson said.
Autostore said in a statement that the decision will have no effect on its business or operations.
“Autostore disagrees with the court’s decision, especially given that the Technical Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office upheld one of the patents in issue as valid just a few weeks ago,” the company said.
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