Ocado sued by AutoStore for alleged robot tech patent infringement

Ocado is being sued by Norwegian robotics firm AutoStore.

The latter filed lawsuits in the UK High Court and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia this week, claiming Ocado’s grocery picking robots infringe on its automated designs.

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In a press release posted on its site, Karl Johan Lier, Chief Executive and President at AutoStore, said: “Since 1996, we have developed and pioneered technology that has revolutionised retail storage and order fulfilment, and is driving the growth of online retail.”

Grocery retailer @OcadoGroup has signed agreements with major partners for systems that unlawfully infringe @AutoStoresystem intellectual property. In defense of our patented technology, AutoStore has filed lawsuits against Ocado. Learn more here: https://t.co/9tJMQoMFdJ
— AutoStore (@AutoStoresystem) October 1, 2020

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

Ocado said in a statement: “We confirm we have not received any papers in relation to these claims and this is the first we have heard of this new claim.”

“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.”