Ocado rises through £200 million settlement in Autostore patent battle -TGN

Ocado shares have risen after revelations it has secured £200 million in its patent battle against a Norwegian rival.

On Saturday, it was announced that AutoStore would pay the amount to settle all outstanding amounts patent litigation claims launched by the pioneers of warehouse technology.

Ocado, which also has a separate retail division in partnership with Marks and Spencer, and Autostore were involved in numerous legal battles in several countries to defend their intellectual property.

The companies, which license their robot technology to retailers around the world, said each could continue to use and market all of their own existing products as part of the settlement without any problems.

The full terms remain confidential, but the agreement does grant both companies access to certain parts of each other’s patent portfolios for production purposes.

However, while Ocado retains exclusive rights to the Single Space Robot, it precludes collaboration and technology support between the companies.

The patent battle, begun by Autostore in 2020, had proved a drag on Ocado share price, but it rose 8% in early trading on Monday — the market’s first chance to react to the weekend’s news.

Ocado CEO Tim Steiner said, “I am pleased that we have worked together to resolve our differences and that we can now continue to focus on what we do best: innovate, develop and give partners access to world-class technology.”

Autostore has two years to pay the £200 million owed in installments.

The boss, Mats Hovland Vikse, added: “We are pleased to have reached a solution that gives both companies the opportunity and freedom to commercialize our extensive patent portfolios.

“This settlement resolves our differences and allows us to continue to focus on our respective business goals.”