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Here is the notice of the order.
https://www.usitc.gov/3498.htm
Should we be worried by this? - from the Autostore press release.
"The US International Trade Commission, seeking an exclusion order preventing the importation of Ocado’s infringing products into the United States."
A delay here while an investigation is ongoing could be costly.
Sounds like this has been going on since the Kroger deal was signed so Autostore clearly spooked, appears just to centre on the bots.
Kroger will have done their due diligence before agreeing the deal, especially as they bought over 5% of Ocado
Indeed, always interesting to read your posts Rocka999. Especially when a complex Ocado issue crops up. Thanks!
Thanks for this overview/thoughts on this one Rocka. Good to see you posting still!
I'd looked into the patents several years ago now when the first sketched designs came out for the OSP and they are similar to Autostore, that's obvious for anyone to see. I understand Ocado wanted to do a deal with the then Jakob Hatteland who owned Autostore but got ignored so Ocado built its own robots. After signing up Morrisons Hatteland sold his stakes in both of his companies to EQT. I'm no expert on patent infringement but patents are only protected for a period of time depending in which country the patent applies to, so this could be Norway only or a group on countries as part of an agreed treaty, also a patent in the UK for instance has to be paid for annually so it doesn't lapse. Autostore it appears was first conceived in 1990 so a patent over this period of time may have elapsed by now anyway. This is not the first time this patent shout has come about and I wasn't too worried previously I seem to recall, in fact the OSP to me seemed a far superior product which is probably why Autostore are now rattled with Ocado signing new deals globally. I believe there's more to this than meets the eye but we'll see what develops if anything thought the courts although these matters can drag on for a long time.
Given Ocado has had legal dealings in the past with autostore I think that Ocado will have prepared a very robust defence to this new claim. Ocado's patents are it's crown jewels. It will have a very clear vision of how to protect them. The share price recovery today backs this up.
Cash burn on a legal case like this will be likely less than £5m. Ocado are currently in a legal dispute with one of their founders - Jonathan Faiman - this case has cost £1.3m to Feb 2020
Ocado have over £1bill in the bank.
Tomorrow looks like a good te to buy Ocado shares.....
I wouldn't worry too much about that, probably will be sorted quickly
This could really put a spanner in the works in that future expansion could be put on hold until the claim is resolved.
I am also concerned about the Ocado cash burn a lengthy legal battle will only make matters worse.
All's well that ends well
Good finish in the end
graking
Yes, I understand that, their was clearly something going on yesterday, but as you say Ocado probably couldn't comment.
chilting - not quite right. If I were to serve a legal notice on chilting plc at 3.00pm today, that is then in the public arena and HAS to be announced by the listed respondent without due delay.
thanks Karister, interesting
Just found presentation on YT from yesterday where autostore says they have new system with bots that take one grid instead of two. So, basically they developed something that Ocado has from years and clam it's their tech. Pitiful.
That's obviously from their point of view.
I'm biased, but seems interesting they would launch this the day SP hits 2914 and is rated higher than Tesco.
You'd have to look at the previous actions that were taken in 2014, I'm assuming that was resolved and Ocdo took out it's own patents that were fully granted.
The Autostore press release is here - it contains more detail of their allegations than was printed by Reuters - maybe someone who understands the technology could comment?
https://autostoresystem.com/news/autostore-sues-ocado-for-infringing-technology-patents-central-to-the-ocado-smart-platform/
Possibly insider trading
Thanks Chilting,
It does SEEM very easy, to simply repeat this story (circulating from 2011-14) and for the share to drop £3 on cue.
Looking at this logically - if Ocado thought this was a serious issue we would have had and RNS this morning - clearly a lot of people were aware of the issue yesterday - we all saw the change during yesterdays trading.
Also I think the SP would have carried on falling - clearly it is just private investors who have taken fright or had their stop losses taken out who have jumped ship.
Just hold steady.
Well...well...there is no safety anywhere these days:(
I was banking on £30 by Xmas...could still get there..fake news & sour grapes malicious attacks.
Bye bye OCADO for now:(
Indeed, very much looks that way. It was a very irregular move yesterday. Completely against the run of play.
Value, at least you got your answer...yesterday someone big already knew this news and dumped at 29.
For once, Oracle, a few wise words.
Ocado have responded with a veiled thread regarding their own patents, saying they are, "investigating whether Autostore has or intends to infringe those patents". Fighting fire with fire?
true