Motif FoodWorks has been sued by Impossible Foods. They claim that its heme technology is too similar to Motif FoodWorks’ signature ingredient.

Although both companies are owned privately, Impossible has a much higher valuation at $9.5 billion.

Impossible’s substitutes for beef and pork use soy hemoglobin (genetically modified yeast) to replicate the aroma and taste of real meat. Also Beyond MeatImpossible helped revive the vegetarian burger market. Many other businesses have followed the trend as well, from large corporations to start-ups.

Motif, which has received $343.5million in investment from Bill Gates, was worth $1.23 billion according to Pitchbook. Ginkgo Bioworks was the biotech start up that spun it. Motif’s launch in 2019 was co-founded by Ginkgo CEO. Jason Kelly told CNBCMotif was founded in response to Impossible’s successes. It develops the key ingredients needed for plant-based protein production and sells the remainder to food companies.

Motif, a company that develops new foods technologies for large scale customers announced in December that Hemami was now commercially available. Food and Drug Administration had considered the ingredient to be safe.

Impossible claims that Motif’s Hemami violates its trademark for the heme ingredient. It filed a complaint in Delaware federal court on Wednesday. Motif’s version does not use bovine myoglobin but it follows a similar procedure to create the ingredient that can be used in substitutes for meat, according to court filings.

Impossible claims that its patent protects the invention of beef substitutes using a muscle reproduction including a heme-containing proteins, at most one sugar compound, and one sulfur compound. It protects the invention of a meat substitute that imitates meat using a fat tissue copy that utilizes at least one vegetable oil and a denatured meat protein.

Impossible claimed in a statement to CNBC that while we applaud the efforts of other companies to create compelling plant-based product, “we do not accept attempts to undermine or subvert our brand or products through deliberate and unauthorized infringements of our intellectual property.” 

CNBC reached Motif but he did not respond immediately to our request.