US Court Dismisses Onego Bio’s Animal-Free Egg IP Lawsuit Against The Every Company

Onego Bio’s patent lawsuit against The Every Company has been dismissed by a judge in Delaware, marking the end of their bitter legal spat over animal-free egg proteins.

The legal dispute between the two leading precision-fermented egg protein startups has come to an end, with a US court dismissing the lawsuit in its entirety.

Finland’s Onego Bio and US startup The Every Co have been locking horns over the latter’s US foundational patent for recombinant ovalbumin protein (the main protein found in egg whites), which the former sought to invalidate.

Onego Bio also accused The Every Co of making false claims about the “bioidentical” nature of its protein to ovalbumin, claiming that its business has been damaged as a result of them.

In the US District Court for the District of Delaware last week, Justice Joshua D Wolson said Onego Bio had “failed to demonstrate that the court has subject matter jurisdiction” to make a declaratory judgment that The Every Co’s patent was invalid and unenforceable and that Onego Bio did not infringe on the patent.

“In addition, Onego does not have statutory standing to assert a false advertising claim under the Lanham Act and has failed to state a claim for tortious interference under state law,” he added.

The court’s ruling said Onego Bio had “tried to egg The Every Co into a fight over intellectual property”, but the latter “refused to take the bait”. Both companies welcomed Wolson’s order, with The Every Co calling the lawsuit “meritless from the start” and Onego Bio noting that it provided clarity.

The decision comes months after a court in Wisconsin threw out an identical lawsuit by Onego Bio over a lack of personal jurisdiction. The Every Company, meanwhile, had asked the Delaware court to sanction Onego Bio for “improper duplicative litigation”, however, that request was dismissed days later.

Why the court dismissed the lawsuit

The legal battle between the two companies began in September 2025, with Onego Bio looking to get The Every Co’s US patent, which covered its expression of ovalbumin in a range of hosts, annulled and accusing the latter of fraud.

Both startups use precision fermentation – a process where a DNA sequence is inserted into microbes to teach them to produce specific molecules when fermented – to make ovalbumin. Onego Bio leverages a fungal strain, Trichoderma reesei, to express the protein, whereas The Every Co engineers Komagataella phaffii (a yeast strain).

The firms had been engaged in talks to establish a cross-licensing agreement and had discussed a potential merger. Onego Bio accused The Every Co of demanding “unwarranted patent licensing fees” and threatening its ability to secure investment and expand its business, as well as making false claims about the “bioidentical” nature of its protein to ovalbumin.

The Finnish argued that The Every Co’s claims that its precision-fermented protein is “nature-equivalent” and “exactly identical” to ovalbumin constituted false marketing, since it contains up to 13 extra amino acids (derived from both egg and yeast proteins).

The judge noted that Onego Bio had not pled any injury to its commercial scales due to The Every Co’s claim, stating that it had, at most, been damaged and would continue to be damaged by the allegedly false advertising and the “potential diversion of prospective consumers”. “But these are conclusory allegations that ‘are not entitled to the presumption of truth’,” wrote Wilson.

And since Onego Bio hadn’t commercialised or broken ground on its industrial facility in the US at the time, its “unspecified claims of damage are not sufficient to demonstrate an injury to its commercial sales”. “At most, Onego’s allegations suggest that it hopes to enter the US market and become Every’s competitor. Thus, there is no basis for me to presume that Onego suffered a commercial injury,” the judge said.

Onego Bio co-founder and CTO Christopher Landowski had alleged that The Every Co told potential investors that the Finnish startup needed a patent licence or it would be infringing its IP. The court called this “third-party hearsay” with “little to no probative value”.

“One of the alleged parties to those conversations – [The Every Co co-founder and CEO] Mr [Arturo] Elizondo – denies that he told the investor that Onego is infringing an Every patent. And because Mr Landowski was not part of those discussions, he is not in a position to rebut Mr Elizondo’s denial,” the ruling stated.

“Even if I were to accept the veracity of these statements, the context in which Every made them – to Onego’s and Every’s investors – suggests that these statements were forms of puffing rather than actual threats directed against Onego and its products,” Wolson continued.

The Every Co and Onego Bio deepen focus on commercialisation

“The evidence before me doesn’t show that Every did anything to assert its rights against Onego. On the contrary, the facts make clear that Onego played the instigator. But picking a fight with a perceived competitor isn’t enough to establish declaratory judgment jurisdiction,” said Wolson.

Reacting to the ruling, The Every Co said it will continue to advance its technology, invest in IP, and “vigorously defend” its position as it focuses on bringing its protein to more consumers in the US. Its protein is already available in products sold at Walmart and Target, as well as on Amazon.

“We are thrilled to see the lawsuit get thrown out. Now that both the Wisconsin and Delaware cases are dismissed in their entirety, we can now focus on what really matters: building a more resilient and affordable food system,” said Elizondo.

Onego Bio said it had sought a declaratory judgment as a “careful, precautionary step”, arguing that Every’s “broad statements about the reach of its patent risked creating uncertainty not only for Onego, but for customers and the wider precision fermentation industry”.

It added that patent offices outside the US have examined filings in the same patent family, and those in Japan and South Korea have rejected The Every Company’s counterpart applications. Mexico’s IP institute has raised objections to all pending claims, while the European Patent Office has issued a preliminary opinion that Every’s claims contain added subject matter, a ground for revocation.

“Onego will continue to follow these proceedings in the interest of a fair, competitive industry. Built on its VTT heritage, Onego has a strong IP position, and to date no one has challenged it,” noted the Finnish startup, which recently began supplying its recombinant ovalbumin to Zen Waffles in the US.

‘We took proactive steps to protect technology built over decades of research at VTT, and to enable a fair marketplace where companies compete with products, prices and availability. We welcome the decision that there is no infringement claim against Onego, no challenge to our freedom to operate, and no litigation between us anymore,” said Onego Bio co-founder and CEO Maija Itkonen.

“Our team is busy shipping metric tonnes of Bioalbumen and selling to US customers, and the response has been incredible. Our focus is on commercialisation, which I’m sure is what Every is focused on too. We respect what they have built over 12 years. There is room for more than one strong company in this category, and customers benefit from having a choice, because true competition will grow the market.”