Ocado and Norwegian warehouse automation tech company AutoStore have reached a £200 million settlement agreement around a warehouse robot patent dispute and “avoid further litigation”.

AutoStore will pay Ocado the £200 million in instalments over two years with the principal agreement meaning that all patent litigation claims will be withdrawn globally.

Ocado will retain exclusive rights to the Single Space Robot – a system which algorithmically stacks delivery orders in its warehouses – while the companies will have mutually beneficial global cross-licence of each other's pre-2020 patents and can each continue to use and market all their own existing products without challenge.

The grocer noted that while 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.

"I am pleased we have been able to settle the disputes in a constructive and collaborative manner,” said Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner. “We can now each move forward and concentrate on providing our partners with world beating technology."

Sharing similar sentiments, AutoStore chief executive Mats Hovland Vikse said the company was glad to have achieved a resolution that gives both companies opportunity and freedom to commercialise their extensive patent portfolios.

Ocado recently recorded losses of £289 million in the first half of the year.

However, the group also returned to profit over the six-month period, recording post core earnings of £16.6 million compared to a loss of £13.6 million in 2022.

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