Ocado sued by Norwegian firm for robot patent infringement

Norwegian company AutoStore filed lawsuits in the UK High Court and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia today, claiming Ocado’s grocery picking robots infringe on its automated designs.

AutoStore’s lawsuits allege that Ocado has stolen a number of features “including those relating to the fundamental central cavity design” and the lifting mechanisms for its robots. 

It said a Norwegian court had already found: “AutoStore is entitled to ownership of its patents covering the robots’ central cavity technology, yet Ocado has continued to pursue lucrative partnerships by selling that technology – as well as other AutoStore-owned technology – as its own.”

AutoStore filed lawsuits against Ocado and its partners Tharsus Group and Printed Motor Works with the intent of barring the pureplay “from manufacturing, importing, using and selling technology that infringes AutoStore’s patents”, and pursuing monetary damages.

In response, Ocado said it had “not received any papers in relation to these claims and this is the first we have heard of this new claim”.

It added: “We are not aware of any infringement of any valid Autostore rights and of course we will investigate any claims once we receive further details.”

The statement concluded with a veiled threat of a countersuit: “We have multiple patents protecting the use of our systems in grocery and we are investigating whether Autostore has, or intends to infringe those patents. We will always vigorously protect our intellectual property.”

AutoStore chief executive Karl Johan Lier said: “Since 1996, AutoStore has developed and pioneered technology that has revolutionized retail storage and order fulfilment and is driving the growth of online retail.

“Our ownership of the technology at the heart of Ocado’s warehousing system is clear. We will not tolerate Ocado’s continued infringement of our intellectual property rights in its effort to boost its growth and attempt to transform itself into a global technology company.”

The lawsuit comes a day after Ocado’s market cap hit £21.7bn, exceeding that of the UK’s largest supermarket group Tesco. Since news of AutoStore’s lawsuit emerged, Ocado’s share price has tumbled 5.5% and its market cap has slipped below £20bn.