Onego Bio—a startup producing egg proteins via precision fermentation—has launched legal action in a bid to invalidate a key patent granted to rival The Every Company.
According to Onego Bio, The Every Co has demanded “unwarranted patent licensing fees” from Onego and engaged in tortious interference by telling third parties, including potential investors, that “Onego needs a patent license from Every or Onego would be infringing Every’s patents.”
In an explosive filing* in a district court in Wisconsin—where it is planning a commercial-scale facility—Onego Bio adds that, “Not only has Every attempted to extort unwarranted patent license fees from Onego, but Every has committed actions that rise to the level of fraud in obtaining the ’784 patent [US patent No. 12,096,784].”
According to Onego Bio, “Every’s demands for resolution have been objectively unreasonable and have included a proposed merger with Onego at a severe devaluation, making it clear that Every is really only interested in Onego’s commercially successful technology.”
Onego adds that it has “conveyed to Every that it is not interested in such a partnership and that the parties should instead focus on their respective businesses using their very different technologies.”
The complaint demands declaratory judgment of invalidity, unenforceability, and non-infringement of The Every Co’s ‘784 patent.
The Every Co did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AgFunderNews.
Onego Bio: Every’s patent is ‘invalid and unenforceable’
Both companies make ovalbumin—the primary protein in egg white—in fermentation tanks. The Every Co uses yeast (Komagataella phaffii) as a production host while Onego Bio uses fungus (Trichoderma reesei).
Every’s ‘784 patent “ostensibly attempts to cover the use of both” hosts, claims Onego Bio, which notes that the use of Trichoderma to produce recombinant ovalbumin was pioneered by Finnish technical research center VTT (from which Onego Bio spun out in 2022).
In a press release issued last year describing the patent as “foundational,” The Every Co claimed that its scope included “production methods utilizing a range of yeast and fungal systems such as Pichia, Trichoderma, Saccharomyces, and Aspergillus.”
According to Onego Bio’s court filing, however, “Every has never stated that it made protein using fungus, much less before the earliest priority date of the ’784 patent. To the contrary, it sought technical information from VTT on how to do so.”
It adds: “Every has attempted to patent technologies that were well-known by VTT before the ’784 patent’s earliest claimed priority date of July 11, 2019. Every’s attempts to patent the publicly known technology render the ’784 patent invalid and unenforceable.”
While the ’784 patent has detailed instructions and examples for making recombinant ovalbumin from yeast, “It provides no instructions or examples for making rOVA from the Trichoderma reesei fungus,” notes the lawsuit. “The USPTO examiner did not appear to substantively review the application that became the ’784 patent but allowed it in the first office action.”
The patent is also unenforceable due to patent misuse, “as Every is attempting to unlawfully extend and/or anti-competitively restrain trade beyond its valid patent rights,” alleges the lawsuit.
Egg proteins… without chickens
South San Francisco-based The EVERY Company was founded by Arturo Elizondo and David Anchel in late 2014 as Clara Foods. It has two core products: ‘OvoPro’ ovalbumin, which replaces the functionality of egg and egg whites in a range of applications, and OvoBoost, a highly soluble, ‘near-invisible’ protein bio-identical to a glycoprotein (ovomucoid) found in egg white ideal for adding to beverages.
The firm, which has secured GRAS ‘no questions’ letters from the FDA for its proteins, has raised $233 million to date and told us earlier this year that it hope to have “profitable unit economics” next year as it ramps up manufacturing capacity with co-manufacturers.
Onego Bio, which was founded by Maija Itkonen and Dr. Chris Landowski in Finland in 2022 as a spinoff from VTT, is focused on ovalbumin (brand name: Bioalbumen).
The firm, which filed a GRAS notice with the FDA late last year, has raised $75 million to date. It recently set up a commercial HQ in San Diego and is now establishing a manufacturing facility in Jefferson County, Wisconsin.
*The case is Onego Bio Inc v Clara Foods (d.b.a. The Every Company) filed on Sept 10 in the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. Case # 3:25-cv-00761
Further reading:
🎥How to protect your IP on a budget: A primer for foodtech startups
🎥 Onego Bio eyes Wisconsin site for chicken-free egg production, files GRAS notice
🎥The EVERY Co on egg proteins… without chickens: ‘Next year, we will have profitable unit economics’
