Joby Aviation, a developer of electric air taxis, is suing Archer Aviation, accusing the rival company of interfering with its operations by using trade secrets stolen from a former employee.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in California Superior Court in Santa Cruz County, includes a series of allegations against Archer and former Joby employee George Kivork. Joby claims that Kibok, who was hired by Archer, stole trade secrets, which were then used by Archer.
In the complaint, Mr. Joby alleges that, two days before announcing his resignation, Mr. Kivork “exfiltrated a cache of highly valuable Joby filings containing confidential partnership terms, business and regulatory strategies, infrastructure strategies for access to vertiports and airports, and technical information regarding Joby’s aircraft and operations.”
Joby alleges that Archer approached one of its strategic partners and shared detailed information about the confidential terms of an exclusive agreement with Joby. The complaint says this information was known to Mr. Kivork and was included in the files he allegedly stole.
“This was a premeditated and premeditated act of corporate espionage,” the complaint says. “The actions of Kivork and Archer have left Joby with no choice but to bring this lawsuit to protect valuable confidential and proprietary information.”
Archer quickly shot back.
“Jovy is turning to frivolous lawsuits to distract from its own shortcomings and slow down powerful competitors,” Eric Rentel, Archer’s chief legal and strategy officer, said in an emailed statement to TechCrunch.
“Mr. Joby’s lawsuit is completely without merit. The complaint, which concerns a non-technical employee who recently joined Archer in a business development role, does not identify any specific trade secrets, let alone evidence of misappropriation,” Rentel said. “As Mr. Joby knows, Archer has rigorous employee training procedures in place to prevent the very things he is accused of. Mr. Joby seeks to unfairly weaponize the legal system to accomplish through bad faith litigation what he cannot accomplish through fair competition. Archer remains focused on building the future of advanced American aviation.”
Archer Aviation and Joby are both based in California and went public in 2021 through mergers with special acquisition vehicles. Both companies are pursuing the development of electric air taxis and defense applications of the technology.
For example, Archer signed an exclusive agreement with weapons manufacturer Anduril earlier this year to co-develop a hybrid gas-electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (VTOL) for critical defense applications. Meanwhile, Joby has signed a contract with defense contractor L3Harris Technologies to “explore opportunities” to develop gas turbine hybrid VTOL aircraft capable of autonomous flight.
The lawsuit sets the two competing companies on a more combative path.
Archer has been in legal trouble before, but the case was eventually settled.
Wisk, now a subsidiary of Boeing, sued Archer in 2021 for “brazen theft” of confidential information and intellectual property. These files contained more than 50 trade secrets that Wisk claims were stolen by former employees who were later hired by Archer. The case lasted two years until the parties resolved their legal disputes and agreed to cooperate.
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