Industry PROTECTED BEYOND MEAT HAS MORE THAN 15 PATENTS. EAT JUST HAS AT LEAST 10. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISN’T THE ONLY ASSET AN ALT-MEAT MAKER NEEDS, BUT IT IS THE FIRST BUILDING BLOCK TO A COMPANY. Think you’ve had the next big alt-meat idea? Hope you’re prepared to protect it! These Edison electric light bulbs are from an 1890 court case where Thomas Edison had to defend his patent on the bulb design. (He eventually won.) Patently I n 2023, one company — Impossible Foods — held more than half of the plant-based meat-related patents in both the U.S. and whole. At the same time, most venture inves-tors are looking for companies that have a “moat” — something that no one else can easily copy. And the easiest way to dig a moat, it turns out, is to apply for patent protection. This area of the law is complicated, and not something most deep-tech inventors and founders are necessarily thinking about much of the time. Alt-Meat reached out to a variety of IP lawyers to find out what alt-meat companies should be doing to protect their work, even as they set up partnerships and collaborations with other players. the EU, according to a Stanford University investigation. This begs the question: What does Impossible know that hundreds of other plant-based alt-meat companies seem to have missed when it comes to intellectual property rights? In such a collaborative sector, it seems somewhat counterintuitive to ruthlessly patent ideas, processes and inventions that could powerfully advance the alt-meat industry as a 12 Alt-Meat June 2024
Alt-Meat June 2024: Page 12
