Impossible Foods Fends Off Improper Snooping Claims in IP Fight

Impossible Foods Inc. overcame claims it violated ethics rules when it directed undercover private investigators to obtain samples of a rival’s products during patent infringement litigation.

Judge William C. Bryson, who is presiding over the Impossible burger maker’s lawsuit against Motif Foodworks Inc. in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, refused to sanction the company and its law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC, according to an order unsealed June 2.

Bryson said it’s legal for companies to use investigators using fake names to look into potential wrongdoing around intellectual property, as Impossible did. The ...