Ocado sued by rival over robot technology

Ocado has been accused of copying the idea for its world-leading robot warehouse technology from a competitor and supplier in Norway which is suing for patent infringement.

The £20bn online grocer is said to have wrongly used designs supplied by AutoStore to develop systems which it claims can transform the supermarket supply chain by rapidly picking orders at warehouses for delivery to customers.

AutoStore has now filed legal papers in the US and at the High Court in London. It is demanding that Ocado stops making and selling some technology in the US, and pays it damages.

Ocado shares fell as much as 7pc before paring losses to close 3.8pc lower at £26.38.

The company is viewed by some investors as a burgeoning global technology supplier, helping large retailers adapt to sweeping demand for online sales. Ocado briefly became more valuable than Tesco this week.

AutoStore said that Ocado had been a customer since 2012 when the British firm first purchased its technology, which is now used in Ocado's white-label systems for supermarket chains arounf the world.

Ocado said in a brief stock market statement that it had not received any papers in relation to the claims and it had not been aware of the issue.

It said: "We are not aware of any infringement of any valid AutoStore rights and of course we will investigate any claims once we receive further details.

"We have multiple patents protecting the use of our systems in grocery and we are investigating whether AutoStore has, or intends to infringe those patents. We will always vigorously protect our intellectual property."

Ocado is betting the house on its automated robotic warehouses after selling half its grocery arm to Marks & Spencer in a £750m deal last year.

It has agreed to kit out 54 robot depots for seven supermarkets including Kroger in America and ICA in Sweden, to help them compete with the likes of Amazon and to capitalise on the boom in online grocery.

The company works with M&S and Morrisons in the UK, having cut ties with Waitrose earlier this year.

Chief executive Tim Steiner and other directors have repeatedly stressed over the years that Ocado has filed dozens of patents for its own systems.

Karl Johan Lier, chief executive of AutoStore, said: "Since 1996, AutoStore has developed and pioneered technology that has revolutionised retail storage and order fulfillment, and is driving the growth of online retail.

Our ownership of the technology at the heart of Ocado's warehousing system is clear. We will not tolerate Ocado's continued infringement of our intellectual property rights in its effort to boost its growth and attempt to transform itself into a global technology company."

AutoStore is also suing UK-based Tharsus, a business partner of Ocado. Tharsus declined to comment.

A separate US legal document alleged that Ocado had worked with Tharsus to copy AutoStore's systems, and it identified patents that it claimed were problematic.