Autostore abandons infringement case in the UK High Court

UK High Court claims withdrawn

Autostore has abandoned their infringement claim against Ocado Group in relation to two of their three patent families in the UK High Court litigation. This represents another significant victory for Ocado Group in the ongoing litigation.

We estimate wasted costs for AutoStore will run to several million pounds on this case alone, and Ocado Group will be seeking to recover their own costs in this case which will be several million more.

Autostore’s decision was communicated to Ocado Group in a letter sent to Ocado Group’s solicitors at about 10:30 pm on Friday night, 14 January 2022. This is the third time AutoStore has abandoned part of their case in the run up to trial. They abandoned one of their patents in the US ITC the day before the trial started in August 2021. Then they abandoned an entitlement claim made against Ocado Group in the UK patent office in November 2021, two days before the hearing of Ocado Group’s strikeout application. Now they have abandoned two thirds of their High Court claim, which they started on 1 Oct 2020 and is due to be heard in 8 weeks’ time.

An Ocado Group spokesperson said: “We have always said these AutoStore claims against us are without foundation, and we are pleased that AutoStore finally agrees with us. We note that this decision comes soon after the ITC in the USA found against a similarly misconceived action. We will always vigorously defend our IP, and we believe this decision vindicates Ocado Group’s strategy of relentless, future-focused innovation. This has been another monumental waste of time and money by AutoStore.”

Last updated 11th March 2022