After a series of IP litigation defense wins against rival AutoStore Holdings, Ocado entered into a resolution that, after the announcement, lifted its market capitalization by more than $833 million. All told, Ocado has won defensive IP trial matters before the U.S. International Trade Commission, the U.K. High Court, the U.S. PTO and the European Patent Office (EPO). Ocado also had major wins in responsive cases it filed asserting its own IP against AutoStore, including before the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, the U.S. PTO, the EPO and in Germany. Ocado also recently filed complaints in the newly launched Unified Patent Court in Europe.
Under the settlement that was announced on July 22, AutoStore will pay more than $250 million to Ocado and Ocado retains exclusive rights to its Single Space Robot and certain technology critical to its leading-edge online grocery business. Each party will cross-license each other’s pre-2020 patents and both companies can continue to use and market all their own existing products without challenge.
The global IP litigation strategy in which S&C played a major role—along with Powell Gilbert LLP in the U.K. and Wildanger in Germany—caused a purely defensive case to flip into a purely affirmative case that led to a substantial nine-figure payment to Ocado and favorable positions as its business continues into the future.
The S&C team representing Ocado includes Garrard Beeney, Marc De Leeuw, Dustin Guzior, Stephen Elliott, Laurie Stempler, Alexander Gross, Mark Bennett, Austin Mayron, Daniel Richardson, Aviv Halpern, Michael Lemanski, Navraj Dhillon, Miles Greene, Alicia Briggs and Haley Sanders. Mehdi Ansari and Philippe Schiff assisted with negotiating the settlement. Jeff Wall assisted in appellate matters.