Lab-Grown Meat Producer Faces Skeptical Judge in Trademark Fight

A nonprofit that promotes the ethical treatment of animals for consumption tried to convince a federal judge Tuesday that a startup company producing lab-grown meat violated its trademark and causes confusion.

The Good Meat Project sued GOOD Meat Inc.—a subsidiary of alternative foods startup Eat Just Inc. that makes lab-cultivated meat—over the use of the “Good Meat” trademarks. The nonprofit seeks a preliminary injunction, arguing that even at this stage it has “already experienced actual confusion in the marketplace where students from a university mistakenly believed GMP was affiliated with Defendants.”

The dispute centers over the lab-meat company’s logo ...