AutoStore AutoStore shares soared up to 15% after the business published a statement announcing
that a Munich court had suspended proceedings launched by Ocado to restrict the sale of one of
AutoStore’s robots in Germany.
Ocado responded by claiming that the Norwegian company had only provided a partial summary of the
proceedings and that the case had still to be resolved.
Shares of AutoStore, which suffered a court defeat in the United States last month in its own action
against Ocado, reduced gains to trade up 0.6 percent at 0939 GMT.
Both companies, which supply labor-saving storage technology to the rapidly increasing online
shopping industry, have been embroiled in a series of court fights over intellectual property (IP) rights
for years.
“The Munich District Court postponed proceedings initiated by Ocado for orders barring the sale of
AutoStore’s B1 robot in Germany yesterday, noting that Ocado’s utility model IP rights in the action
were likely to be unlawful,” AutoStore said.
“The court’s judgement was that Ocado were attempting to claim technologies that they had not
invented,” it went on to say.
However, Ocado stated that the lawsuit would be resumed at a later date.
“The infringement action against AutoStore continues, but it must await confirmation of the legality of
Ocado’s Utility Model right, which will be reviewed by a different court as is customary in Germany,”
Ocado stated.
Ocados shares traded down 5.5% in London. Another patent case between the two rivals is still ongoing in Britain. AutoStore, whose biggest owner is Japans SoftBank, went public in October and its shares initially
rose sharply. They have since fallen, partly as a result of the U.S. legal setback, and are down 47%
from their November peak.
