Electric air taxi developer Joby Aviation is suing Archer Aviation over allegations that its rival used stolen trade secrets obtained from a former employee to interfere with its operations.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in California Superior Court in Santa Cruz County, makes a number of allegations against Archer and George Kivork, a former Joby employee. Joby alleges that Kivork, who was hired by Archer, stole trade secrets that were then used by Archer.
In the lawsuit, Joby alleges that two days before announcing his resignation, Kivork “exfiltrated a cache of highly valuable Joby files containing confidential terms of partnerships, business and regulatory strategies, infrastructure strategies for vertiports and airport access, and technical information about Joby’s aircraft and operations,” the complaint states.
Joby alleges that Archer approached one of its strategic partners and shared detailed information about the confidential terms of its exclusive agreement with Joby. According to the complaint, this information was known to Kivork and contained the files he allegedly stole.
“This is corporate espionage, planned and premeditated,” the complaint states. “The conduct of Kivork and Archer left Joby no choice but to take this action to protect Joby’s valuable confidential and proprietary information.”
Archer quickly retaliated.
“Joby is turning to meritless litigation in an attempt to distract from its own shortcomings and slow down its top competitor,” Eric Lentell, Archer’s chief legal and strategy officer, said in a statement emailed to TechCrunch.
“Jobbie’s case is completely without merit. The complaint, about a non-technical employee who recently joined Archer in a business development role, does not identify a single specific trade secret let alone any evidence of misappropriation,” Lentell said. “As Joby knows, Archer has implemented rigorous employee onboarding procedures to prevent exactly what he is accused of doing. Joby is improperly trying to weaponize the legal system to achieve through bad faith litigation what it cannot achieve through fair competition. Archer remains focused on building the future of advanced aviation in America.”
Archer Aviation and Joby are based in California and went public in 2021 through mergers with special purpose buyout companies. Both are developing electric air taxis as well as pursuing defense applications in their technology.
For example, Archer signed an exclusive agreement with weapons manufacturer Anduril earlier this year to jointly develop a hybrid gas-electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft for critical defense applications. Meanwhile, Joby has signed an agreement with defense contractor L3Harris Technologies to “explore opportunities” to develop a hybrid gas turbine VTOL aircraft that can fly autonomously.
The lawsuit puts the two rivals on a much more combative path.
Archer has been in the legal hot seat before, though that was eventually settled.
Wisk, now a Boeing subsidiary, sued Archer in 2021 for “brazen theft” of confidential information and intellectual property. Those files included over 50 trade secrets that Wisk claimed were stolen by a former employee who was later hired by Archer. The lawsuit dragged on for two years before the parties settled the litigation and agreed to cooperate.
