Heura, the plant-based meat brand founded in Barcelona in February 2017, has largely won the unfair competition case brought against it by Spain's meat industry, according to the company's announcement in June, reported by Reason Why, and coverage of the ruling. The Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona, the city's provincial court, ruled on appeal in judgment 545/2026 of 11 May, issued by its Section 15.
The claim dates back to 2022. Six interprofessional meat organisations (Interporc, Provacuno, Interovic, Asici, Avianza and Intercun) sued Foods For Tomorrow, the company behind Heura, over the use of terms such as "burger", "chorizo" and "sausage" on plant-based products, the animal pictograms on its packaging and its messaging about the meat industry, including outdoor advertising and social media.
What the court allowed
The court found that there is no naming reserve for the terms "burger", "chorizo" or "sausage" that Heura uses on its packaging, unlike dairy terms such as milk, cheese or yoghurt, which EU rules reserve for animal products. Next to the product name, the packs state prominently that they are "100% vegetal", and the animal pictograms appear exclaiming "Wow, 100% vegetal". Market studies, the court said, show that the average consumer can tell a plant-based product from an animal one even when they share part of a name.
On social media, the court concluded that Heura's messages could not be considered, as a whole, misleading, denigrating or an unlawful comparison, and that Heura usually cites its sources. According to Heura, the judgment recognises that it relies on studies from bodies such as the FAO, the WHO and Spain's food safety agency AESAN, invokes freedom of expression and orders the claimants to pay the costs of the appeal.
The billboard it lost
The court did side with the meat organisations on one campaign: a 2020 billboard in central Madrid that read "A meat burger pollutes more than your car" (translated from Spanish). It found that the message constitutes unfair competition through misleading advertising. According to the Foro Ganadero-Cárnico, which groups the six organisations, the ruling orders the campaign to stop for good, requires any content still online to be removed, bars its reuse and obliges Heura to publish the ruling in a national newspaper, on its website and on its social media profiles. Heura said it reaffirms its commitment to rigorous, evidence-based communication.
Two readings of the same ruling
"An attempt was made to silence a conversation the country needs, and the courts have protected the right to have it," said Marc Coloma, CEO and co-founder of Heura (translated from Spanish). In a post about the case, the company said it was sued four years ago by a lobby representing companies with more than €31 billion in revenue, when Heura was a €17 million company.
Gregorio Rodríguez, director of the Foro Ganadero-Cárnico, called the ruling "an important step in defending fair competition and respect for an entire sector that is strategic for our country" (translated from Spanish).
