Ocado Victory in Autostore Proceedings in UK High Court

30th March 2023

On 30th March 2023, judgement was handed down on the patent suit brought by Autostore, against Ocado, at the UK High Court. Ocado comprehensively won the patent infringement suit. His Honour Judge Hacon held that the Autostore patents were invalid and, in any event, Ocado did not infringe them.

Autostore had originally asserted six patents against Ocado in October 2020. Of these six patents, two were invalidated by the European Patent Office before judgement was handed down, two were withdrawn by Autostore shortly before the hearing started and the remaining two patents were invalidated by Judge Hacon in the March 30th judgement.

Judge Hacon decided that even if he had not invalidated these remaining patents, Ocado's OSP did not infringe them - and that Ocado's bots also did not infringe the patents that Autostore had withdrawn from the case.

This decision follows Ocado's victory over AutoStore in the International Trade Commission in the USA in 2022. Ocado's claims against AutoStore for infringing Ocado's IP are continuing in Germany and New Hampshire, USA.