Ocado shares soar after £200m settlement with AutoStore

Ocado shares have soared to their highest level since January after the online grocer reached a settlement with AutoStore over robot patent litigation claims.

The Norwegian robotics firm will pay £200million to Ocado in 24 monthly instalments, starting this month, putting an end to a three-year legal battle, the group told investors on Monday. 

In March, a UK High Court ruled in favour of Ocado, agreeing the company had not infringed AutoStore’s patents with its warehouse robots, which are designed to automatically pack shopping orders for delivery. 

Robot patent litigation: Ocado and AutoStore have settled after a three-year long legal battle

The two companies have now agreed to withdraw their actions against each other and will have ‘complete freedom’ to access and use technology covered by each other’s pre-2020 patents. 

They will also be allowed to continue to use and market their own existing products without risk of infringement of the others’ post-2020 patents.

Meanwhile, AutoStore is not permitted to make or use a single-space cavity robot in any jurisdiction where Ocado has patent protection. 

The agreement does not allow for collaboration, technology support between the companies, or access to actual products, the companies said.

It does, however, grant both firms access to certain portions of each other’s patent portfolios for them to use or manufacture their own products.

Ocado chief executive, Tim Steiner, said: ‘I am pleased that we have worked together to resolve our differences and can now continue to focus on what we do best – innovating, developing and enabling partners to access world beating technology.’ 

Mats Hovland Vikse, chief executive of AutoStore, said: ‘We are glad to have achieved a resolution that gives both companies opportunity and freedom to commercialise our extensive patent portfolios.

‘This settlement resolves our differences and allows us to continue focusing on our respective business goals.’

The legal battle between the two companies started in October 2020, when AutoStore claimed Ocado infringed six patents.

Deals that the automated supermarket company had with Marks & Spencer and Morrisons and Kroger in the US infringed on the patents, AutoStore claimed. 

The company had asked for the courts to ban Ocado from using the technology in future and sought compensation.

Ocado shares rose 11 per cent to 760.80p in morning trading on Monday.

The latest surge adds to last week’s rally, when Ocado announced it had returned to an underlying profit in the last six months.

Ocado shares have risen by around 17 per cent since the start of the year and are flat compared to 12 months ago. 

Ocado shares have surged 11% to their highest level since the start of the year