AutoStore and Ocado settle all patent litigation
(Nedre Vats, 22 July 2023) – AutoStore Holdings Ltd (AutoStore, OSE:AUTO) and Ocado Group (Ocado, LON:OCDO) announced today a complete settlement of all claims between the companies in their global patent dispute, avoiding further litigation and associated costs.
The principal terms of the agreement are:
● All patent litigation claims withdrawn globally
● Mutually beneficial global cross-licence of each other's pre 2020 patents
● Both companies can continue to use and market all their own existing products without challenge
● Ocado retains exclusive rights to the Single Space Robot
● AutoStore will pay £200 million to Ocado in instalments over 2 years
Whilst the agreement gives both companies access to parts of each other's patent portfolios for them to use or develop their own products, it does not provide for collaboration or technology assistance between the companies or access to actual products.
The other terms of the agreement remain confidential.
Tim Steiner, CEO of Ocado, said: "I am pleased we have been able to settle the disputes in a constructive and collaborative manner. We can now each move forward and concentrate on providing our partners with world beating technology."
Mats Hovland Vikse, CEO of AutoStore, said: "We are glad to have achieved a resolution that gives both companies opportunity and freedom to commercialize our extensive patent portfolios. This settlement resolves our differences and allows us to continue focusing on our respective business goals."
This announcement includes inside information, is disclosed by Hiva Flåskjer, VP Investor Relations on the date and time indicated above and is disclosed in accordance with section 5-12 and the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
For further information, please contact:
Investor relations and Norwegian media:
Hiva Flåskjer, Vice President Investor Relations:
+47 958 66 790
International media:
Tim Danaher and Peter Hesse:
+44 (0) 207 404 5959
About AutoStore
AutoStore™, founded in 1996, is a technology company that develops order-fulfillment solutions to help businesses achieve efficiency gains within the storage and retrieval of goods. The company offers both hardware and software capabilities and the AutoStore technology is interoperable with other third-party solutions. AutoStore is global, with ~1,200 Systems in 49 countries. All sales are distributed, designed, installed, and serviced by a network of qualified system integrators referred to as “partners”. AutoStore was founded in Nedre Vats, on the west coast of Norway. The company has offices in Norway, the U.S., UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Singapore, as well as production facilities in Koszalin, Poland.
For more information about AutoStore, see www.autostoresystem.com.