One of the sharpest intellectual-property fights in the collaborative robot business ended without a verdict. On October 1, 2026, Teradyne Robotics A/S, the subsidiary of Teradyne, Inc. that owns Universal Robots, announced that it had resolved its legal dispute with Shanghai-based cobot maker Elite Robots “by mutual agreement”. The terms are confidential, and neither side plans to say more.
The statement from Universal Robots was carefully worded. Jette Withers, Chief Legal Officer at Teradyne Robotics, said: “The parties have resolved their pending legal dispute by mutual agreement. The settlement does not constitute an admission by Elite Robots regarding liability, infringement, validity of intellectual property rights, or any other disputed issue.” The company added that the deal reflects a shared interest in avoiding the continued time and cost of legal proceedings.
How the fight started
The case centred on software, not hardware. Teradyne Robotics accused Elite Robots Deutschland GmbH, the German arm of Elite Robots, of copyright infringement involving proprietary Universal Robots software. In a move made public on April 21, 2026, the Regional Court of Hamburg issued a preliminary injunction that:
- barred Elite Robots Deutschland from offering or distributing the allegedly infringing software, and all products containing it, in Germany until further notice;
- required the company to provide information about the alleged infringing acts, including customer details.
A preliminary injunction is not a final finding of infringement, and no trial date had been set. Teradyne also claimed that Elite’s products let users disable safety settings, a concern it said it had raised with authorities in Denmark, Germany and the U.S.
Teradyne did not hold back at the time. Teradyne Robotics president Jean-Pierre Hathout said the ruling signalled “a very strong case” and stressed the company’s commitment to “taking a stand against competitors copying proprietary hardware or software.” Universal Robots CTO David Brandt was blunter: “This is about stealing technology.”
Who Elite Robots is
Founded in 2016 in Shanghai, Elite Robots has pushed into Western markets and claims deployments in more than 35 countries. The company also says it holds over 200 patents and IP assets — a reminder that the Chinese cobot makers now competing with Universal Robots are building portfolios of their own.
The JAKA case is still open
The truce with Elite does not mean Teradyne is putting its lawyers on leave. On Aug. 24, 2026, it filed a patent infringement case at the Unified Patent Court’s Copenhagen Local Division against JAKA Robotics GmbH, the German subsidiary of another Chinese cobot maker. That case covers three Universal Robots patents, spanning both software and hardware, and as of October 7, 2026 it remained ongoing.
For buyers of collaborative robots in Europe, the practical takeaway is simple: the Elite dispute is closed, but the question of how far rivals can borrow from the Universal Robots playbook is still being tested in court.
Earlier on GismoLand: Teradyne Robotics posts a 33% quarterly jump powered by US demand and AI.
