Value Delivered
GreyB’s discovery of prior art played a crucial role in the successful invalidation of a vegan meat patent that had previously survived an IPR challenge.
Problems Solved
Research articles and patents are typically valuable resources for identifying prior art in formulation-based inventions, but this particular search was quite challenging. The traditional patent and non-patent literature (NPL) searches yielded all necessary ingredients, but the crucial hurdle lay in finding a single reference disclosing a complete formulation that was entirely vegan.
Existing patents mentioned the addition of calcium to Fusarium products, but none specified a vegan source for the calcium. On the other hand, research articles discussed the use of Fusarium species and the edibility of mycelium, but none described their incorporation into a formulated product.
Solution Offered
To overcome the challenge, a unique strategy of understanding the history of the vegan food industry and tracing the evolution of pioneering companies was employed. It wasn’t just about studying their products; it involved deconstructing their ingredients and deciphering their actual content.
Through this in-depth analysis, the ideal prior art was identified. This reference disclosed the necessary elements and crucially confirmed their presence in a completely vegan formulation.
Get the full case study to discover how GreyB ultimately invalidated a vegan meat patent that initially survived an IPR.