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Beyond Meat been ordered to pay fellow alt-meat company Vegadelphia Foods $38.9 million in damages, after a federal court jury found it liable for trademark infringement.

The case centres around the alt-meat giant’s use of the slogan ‘Great Taste, Plant Based’ in an advertising campaign for its collaboration with US doughnut and coffee chain Dunkin’.

Vegadelphia filed a lawsuit against Beyond in 2022, alleging that its use of the slogan – used to advertise its meat-free breakfast sausage sandwich – infringed on Vegadelphia’s similar registered trademark, ‘Where Great Taste Is Plant-Based’.

Founded in 2004 – five years prior to the establishment of Beyond Meat – Vegadelphia, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, produces a range of plant-based alternatives to traditional meat products including beef, chicken and seafood.

In its lawsuit, Vegadelphia argued that Beyond Meat’s use of the slogan willfully infringed its own trademark and disrupted an expansion with two ‘industry titans’ that was ready to launch. Troutman Pepper Locke, the law firm representing Vegadelphia, said this expansion was sidelined due to the ‘overwhelming deluge’ of Beyond Meat’s ads and promotions, which were used across tens of thousands of retailers.

A jury in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that the slogan was too similar to Vegadelphia’s trademark, and were likely to cause confusion for consumers.

Responding to the verdict, a spokesperson for California-headquartered Beyond Meat commented: “We are disappointed and do not agree with the result. We will seek judicial review of the decision.”

The case underscores the increasing scrutiny over brands’ trademarks and the complexity of infringement cases, which are often lengthy and highlight the need for caution when developing marketing trademarks similar to those of competitors operating in the same category.

In the plant-based industry, fellow alt-meat company Impossible Foods recently lost a four-year EU trademark case against a Spanish independent bakery, Impossible Bakers, centring around the use of the word ‘Impossible’ in the bakery’s branding.

Other high-profile cases in the wider food and beverage industry this year include British cider maker Thatchers’ infringement lawsuit against retailer Aldi for its lookalike Cloudy Lemon cider, and Death Wish Coffee’s suit against Liquid Death with regards to similarities in its trade dress and branding.