Ocado has seen off claims from an international rival that alleged it had stolen several of its technological inventions.
A High Court judge ruled that two patents held by Norwegian company AutoStore were invalid and, regardless, had not been infringed upon by Ocado.
The claim was first bought in 2020 when AutoStore asserted its rights over six of Ocado’s patents, two of which were invalidated by the European Patent Office before the judgment, while another was overturned in the Norwegian company’s favour.
AutoStore withdrew another two claims before the litigation in the UK began, with the remaining two being thrown out by the High Court ruling.
After the rulings, an Ocado spokesman described the litigation as a “complete waste of time” and said the UK online grocer and technology supplier had been legally vindicated both in the UK and the US.
“This entire misguided exercise by AutoStore has simply served to show that it is Ocado that is the innovation factory with robust processes in place to protect and respect intellectual property,” he said. The spokesman added that Ocado would be seeking “significant cost orders” against AutoStore.
AutoStore said it “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”.
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