Joby Aviation, an electric air taxi developer, is taking legal action against Archer Aviation, alleging that its competitor used stolen trade secrets obtained from a former employee to disrupt its business.
The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in the Superior Court of California in Santa Cruz County, presents several allegations against Archer and George Kivork, a former Joby employee. Joby claims that Kivork, who was recruited by Archer, misappropriated trade secrets that Archer subsequently used.
In the lawsuit, Joby alleges that Kivork, two days before he announced his resignation, “exfiltrated a collection of highly valuable Joby documents containing confidential partnership terms, business and regulatory strategies, infrastructure strategies for vertiports and airport access, and technical information about Joby’s aircraft and operations,” according to the complaint.
Joby asserts that Archer contacted one of its strategic partners and disclosed detailed information regarding confidential terms of its exclusive agreement with Joby. The complaint states that this information was known to Kivork and was included in the files he allegedly stole.
“This constitutes corporate espionage, carefully planned and premeditated,” the complaint states. “Joby is left with no alternative but to initiate this action to safeguard its valuable confidential and proprietary information due to the actions of Kivork and Archer.”
Archer responded swiftly.
“Joby is resorting to unfounded litigation in an attempt to divert attention from its own deficiencies and impede its primary competitor,” Eric Lentell, Archer’s chief legal and strategy officer, stated in an email to TechCrunch.
“Joby’s case is completely without substance. The complaint, which concerns a non-technical employee who recently joined Archer in a business development capacity, fails to identify a single specific trade secret, let alone any evidence of misappropriation,” Lentell said. “As Joby is aware, Archer has established stringent employee onboarding procedures to guard against precisely what it is accused of. Joby is improperly trying to exploit the legal system to achieve through bad faith litigation what it cannot achieve through legitimate competition. Archer remains committed to advancing the future of aviation in America.”
Both Archer Aviation and Joby are based in California and became publicly traded in 2021 through mergers with special purpose acquisition companies. Both companies are developing electric air taxis and pursuing defense applications for their technologies.
For example, Archer entered into an exclusive agreement with weapons manufacturer Anduril earlier this year to jointly develop a hybrid gas-and-electric-powered vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft for essential defense applications. Meanwhile, Joby signed an agreement with defense contractor L3Harris Technologies to “explore opportunities” for developing a gas-turbine hybrid VTOL aircraft capable of autonomous flight.
This lawsuit places the two rivals on a much more confrontational course.
Archer has faced legal challenges in the past, although the matter was eventually resolved.
Wisk, now a subsidiary of Boeing, sued Archer in 2021 for “brazen theft” of confidential information and intellectual property. The stolen files included over 50 trade secrets that Wisk claimed were taken by a former employee who was subsequently hired by Archer. The lawsuit persisted for two years before the parties reached a settlement and agreed to collaborate.
