Impossible Foods Takes Motif Foodworks’ Heme Business in IP Lawsuit Settlement

Impossible Foods has settled its patent infringement dispute with Motif Foodworks, taking over the latter’s heme business.

Plant-based meat maker Impossible Foods and food tech company Motif Foodworks, a spinoff of Boston-based Ginkgo Bioworks, have settled their bitter dispute over heme protein, two-and-a-half years after the litigation began.

According to a filing in the US District Court for the District of Delaware – first reported by Bloomberg Law – Impossible Foods has agreed to take over Motif FoodWorks’ heme business. The ingredient gives plant-based analogues a meaty taste and appearance, and is used by Impossible Foods to help make its burgers ‘bleed’.

Judge William C Bryson approved the settlement in a dismissal order on Tuesday.

What the lawsuit was about

Heme is the USP in Impossible Foods’ beef products. Its version of the protein is bioidentical to soy leghemoglobin, which is found in the roots of specific plants. The company employs precision fermentation to produce the ingredient. It inserts the DNA from soy plants into a genetically engineered yeast strain called K. phaffii, which is then fermented in a similar way to how Belgian beer is made. It then isolates the soy leghemoglobin from the yeast and adds it to its plant-based beef.

This gives the burger a reddish-brown hue that changes when heated, and imparts an iron-rich flavour and mouthfeel. It’s also been a roadblock for Impossible Foods’ flagship product in markets like the EU, which has more stringent regulations around novel foods.

Motif Foodworks, meanwhile, uses precision fermentation to make a heme protein identical to bovine myoglobin, called Hemami. Found in the muscle tissue of cows, this is a protein responsible for the colour and iron content of meat and seafood. While the latter isn’t a CPG company, its ingredient has been part of burgers through distribution partners like Coolgreens.

Impossible Foods filed a lawsuit in March 2022, accusing Motif Foodworks of patent infringement. But Motif Foodwords denied any wrongdoing, suggesting that the action was an attempt to stifle competition and limit consumer choice.

After Motif Foodworks filed an appeal in 2023, the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board invalidated one of Impossible Foods’ heme patents in June, covering a plant-based “ground beef-like food product” that “results in the production of at least two volatile compounds which have a beef-associated aroma” when cooked. However, it declined Motif Foodworks’ reqrest to review six other patents part of the lawsuit.

Case dismissed with prejudice

Now, the case has finally come to a close, a welcome result for both parties. At times, things got incredibly bitter, with Motif Foodworks accusing Impossible Foods of hiring private investigators who took on fake identities to obtain information about its products.

The court filing noted that Impossible Foods, Motif Foodworks, and Ginkgo Bioworks “hereby stipulate and agree that all claims, defenses, and counterclaims asserted by any party in the above-captioned action are dismissed with prejudice”, meaning the same legal claim cannot be filed again.

Additionally, the filing stated that each of the companies would bear their own “costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees”.

In a joint statement sent to Bloomberg Law on Wednesday, the companies said: “This resolution affirms Impossible Foods’ category leadership and the strength of its product portfolio related to heme.”

They added: “Motif FoodWorks and Ginkgo Bioworks look forward to supporting continued growth and innovation within the plant-based sector, recognising the massive potential for progress in the industry for consumers and the environment.”

Impossible Foods has previously won a court ruling for its heme ingredient, after objections made by the Center for Food Safety about the use of the genetically modified ingredient were struck down. It also came out on top in a trademark infringement claim against Nestlé, whose Garden Gourmet brand was forced to change the name of its Incredible Burger.

And in August, the European Food Safety Authority ruled that Impossible Foods’ heme doesn’t raise any safety concerns, bringing it a step closer to entering the EU market. The company now needs to pass a safety assessment by the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms – but this process hasn’t progressed since December 2021, with Impossible Foods needing to submit more information.