Blyth firm ‘wins’ first stage of copyright battle
THE first stage in a “robot wars” court case involving rising Northumberland firm Tharsus has seen a ruling in its favour.
Norwegian firm Autostore had taken action against online supermarket firm Ocado and Tharsus, alleging that the robots the Blyth firm makes for Ocado infringe its copyright. But a judgment handed down in the US has found that three of the four AutoStore patents are invalid and a fourth is not infringed. It means that 33 claims against Ocado have now been rejected.
The judgment is unlikely to be the end of the case, however, with AutoStore indicating that it will challenge the US ruling and other court cases in Europe still proceeding.
An Ocado spokesperson said: “We have consistently stated that Ocado does not infringe any valid AutoStore IP, and we are pleased that the judge has now agreed with us. This was a misconceived attempt by AutoStore to interfere with our business in the United States. We intend vigorously to continue our infringement claims against AutoStore in the United States and Europe.”
AutoStore said it intends to challenge the decision at a final determination in April next year.
Karl Johan Lier, AutoStore chief executive, said: “This initial determination, even if confirmed by the full commission, would not change our ability to conduct our business in the US or globally.
“The issues on which the Administrative Law Judge reached his preliminary finding on validity contradict the determination of the US Patent and Trademark Office, which refused to invalidate the patents at issue in this case. We will raise these issues with the full commission, and we will continue to defend our intellectual property.”
The cases are particularly significant because they could put the break on Ocado’s plans to expand into North America, which would in turn benefit Tharsus.
The former North East Company of the Year, which was recently visited by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, also works with the likes of BMW and DHL and is one of the UK’s largest commercial producers of robots.
Its most recent accounts showed that revenues rose from £58m to £81m, while operating profit jumped 80% from £2.5m to £4.6m.
We will raise these issues...and defend our intellectual property Karl Johan Lier