ITC rejects infringement claims against Ocado for second time

Online grocer Ocado revealed on Friday that the International Trade Commission had rejected 33 claims from fulfilment business AutoStore that it had infringed upon its patents with its proprietary technology.

Ocado, which has been locked in a series of legal battles with the Norwegian robot maker for a number of years, said all of the claims had now been rejected for a second time or abandoned by AutoStore, while AutoStore's key cavity bot patents, the UK versions of which were the only patents being asserted against Ocado in a High Court case starting next week, were all found to be invalid. A fourth, unrelated, patent was also held not to be infringed.

The London-listed group stated it would continue to actively pursue its claims against AutoStore for infringement of its own IP rights in both the United States and Europe, including its antitrust "Walker Process" claim against AutoStore in East Virginia and its infringement of five Ocado patents in New Hampshire.

Ocado anticipates court determinations injuncting AutoStore and awarding it with damages for the company's infringement of its patents.

The group added that it now expects "further vindication" in London's High Court in the weeks ahead, where AutoStore has already abandoned half of the patents in the case.

AJ Bell's Russ Mould said: "Fighting over patent infringement has been a major distraction for Ocado and may have acted as a deterrent for new customers signing up to its logistics platform. Not helping its cause on this front have been two fires caused by its warehouse bots.

"If Ocado can finally prove it isn’t copying someone else's set-up, and that its bots are safe, it stands a better chance of accelerating the number of new customer sign-ups – something the market has been demanding ever since the pandemic showed the importance of having a robust, efficient online grocery operation."

Autostore said it intends to appeal the decision in a US federal court but stated it would discontinue its appeal in the European Patent Office in Germany given the patent was "no longer relevant" to its UK infringement case."

As of 0830 GMT, Ocado shares were up 4.48% at 1,235.50p.