Impossible Foods Sues Startup Motif Foodworks Over Meatless Burger Patent

Impossible Foods plant-based beef products are seen inside a refrigerator at the meat section of a chain supermarket in Hong Kong, on Oct. 20, 2020. Lam Yik/Reuters

Meatless burger maker Impossible Foods sued competitor Motif Foodworks on Wednesday, accusing the startup of copying its technology for imitating the taste of real meat.

The lawsuit filed in Delaware federal court said Motif, a spinoff of biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks, infringes an Impossible Foods patent by using the protein molecule heme in its plant-based beef.