AutoStore claimed that several of its European patents covering cube-storage robots and grid-based systems were infringed by Ocado’s Smart Platform robots and storage grid. The judge looked closely at the “central cavity” robot patents (EP 2 928 794 and EP 3 070 027) and two other related patents and compared them to earlier disclosures and designs. He found that the claimed inventions lacked novelty and/or an inventive step, meaning they did not add enough new technical idea over what was already publicly available, so the patents were revoked.
Additionally, even if the patents were not invalidated, the judge found that Ocado did not infringe them, even if they were valid. Specifically, Ocado’s robots and grid as actually built and used did not fall within the wording of AutoStore’s patent claims. The court concluded that, on proper claim construction, Ocado’s design did not use several key features required by the claims, so there was no infringement in any event.
AutoStore claimed that several of its European patents covering cube-storage robots and grid-based systems were infringed by Ocado’s Smart Platform robots and storage grid. The judge looked closely at the “central cavity” robot patents (EP 2 928 794 and EP 3 070 027) and two other related patents and compared them to earlier disclosures and designs. He found that the claimed inventions lacked novelty and/or an inventive step, meaning they did not add enough new technical idea over what was already publicly available, so the patents were revoked.
Additionally, even if the patents were not invalidated, the judge found that Ocado did not infringe them, even if they were valid. Specifically, Ocado’s robots and grid as actually built and used did not fall within the wording of AutoStore’s patent claims. The court concluded that, on proper claim construction, Ocado’s design did not use several key features required by the claims, so there was no infringement in any event.
This is all in the judgment.
Finally, Autostore had to pay Ocado $256M USD: https://www.therobotreport.com/autostore-to-pay-ocado-256m-i...