Texas Scorecard By Travis Morgan March 30, 2026
This article has been updated since publication to include comment from Impossible Foods.Joel Runyon—social media influencer and founder of the Austin-based performance lifestyle company Impossible LLC—has been awarded $3.25 million from the California-based Impossible Foods for trademark infringement.
The multi-billion dollar plant-based meat substitute giant has become notorious for targeting its competition with lengthy lawsuits. Runyon’s win could signal an end to this practice.
BackgroundAs previously reported, Runyon’s business has been operating under the “Impossible” name since 2010—three years before Impossible Foods.
By March 2012, Impossible LLC had obtained its first federal IMPOSSIBLE-formative trademark registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), giving it priority rights to use IMPOSSIBLE as part of its marks to prevent confusingly similar uses by other companies in that marketplace.
In 2013, a company called Maraxi, Inc.—which reportedly made artisanal cheeses from nuts—was looking to rebrand with the mission “[t]o invent and provide great tasting plant-derived foods to replace animal-based foods worldwide.” The leading name choice for this rebrand was “Impossible Foods.”
Before the decision was final, Maraxi’s general counsel reportedly commissioned a comprehensive trademark search report in October 2013. The report listed Impossible LLC’s trademarks and websites, but did not prevent Maraxi from rebranding to Impossible Foods.
In April 2020, Impossible Foods applied for an IMPOSSIBLE-formative trademark to provide “information about recipes, ingredients and cooking information.”
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/impossible-foods-owes-texas-business-3-25-million-for-trademark-infringement-jury-rules/
