(Bloomberg) — Ocado Group Plc was accused of making “pretty torturous” arguments to try and explain the alleged infringement of three key patents belonging to Norwegian rival AutoStore Holdings Ltd., during a legal battle which threatens to slow the U.K. firm’s global expansion.
Ocado’s “swarm of robots” took center stage at the start of the main part of the London patent infringement trial on Tuesday. AutoStore’s lawyers argued that Ocado’s robots “plainly take, and infringe” its patents while Ocado said its tech skills have achieved a different approach, which doesn’t amount to taking the same invention.
Ocado’s warehouse system, where robots move thousands of customer orders as they glide around a chessboard-like grid, has secured it partnerships with the likes of Kroger Co. in the U.S. and Coles Group Ltd. in Australia. AutoStore said its technology, in 45 countries, is the foundation of Ocado’s system, which if proved could force Ocado to change its designs.
The pair have been locked in a global legal fight for years, with a series of disputes over patent infringement in multiple jurisdictions. Ocado won the U.S. case earlier this month, which AutoStore said it plans to appeal.
Ocado is also seeking a declaration that the robots it has in development don’t infringe AutoStore’s patents and said it’s looking at removing the outer casing from its robots and asked for confirmation that these also wouldn’t infringe.
AutoStore said the removal of this cladding, which it claims acts as a safety function and mitigates the risk of fire, will expose internal components of the robots.
A spokesperson for Ocado declined to comment on the fire safety claim and their lawyers didn’t address it in their legal arguments. A spokesperson for AutoStore declined to comment.
(Updates with more details from case throughout)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
