An electric air taxi by Joby Aviation flies near the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 12, 2023.
Roselle Chen | Reuters
Air taxi maker Joby Aviation in a new lawsuit accused competitor Archer Aviation of using stolen information by a former employee to “one-up” a partnership deal with a real estate developer.
“This is corporate espionage, planned and premeditated,” Joby said in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in a California Superior Court in Santa Cruz, where the company is based.
The lawsuit alleges that Joby’s then-U.S. state and local policy lead, George Kivork, downloaded dozens of files and sent some content to his personal email two days before he resigned in July to take a job at Archer, which had recruited him.
By August, Joby said a partner that worked with Kivork said it had been approached by Archer with a “more lucrative deal.”
Joby alleges that the eVTOL rival’s understanding of “highly confidential” details helped it leverage negotiations.
Joby also said the developer attempted to terminate the agreement, citing a breach of confidentiality.
Archer called the suit “baseless litigation” meant to slow its leading competitor in a statement to CNBC.
“Joby’s case is entirely without merit,” said Eric Lentell, Archer’s chief legal & strategy officer. “The complaint, regarding 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.”
Archer said it has rigorous employee onboarding procedures that are meant to prevent the kinds of actions Joby has accused it of.
A hearing is scheduled for March 20, 2026.
Joby said Kivork refused to return the files when approached by the company after an investigation, according to the suit.
The company also said Archer denied wrongdoing, and would not disclose how it learned about the terms of the agreement or provide results from an internal investigation it allegedly undertook.
Prior to joining Joby, Kivork worked as senior public policy manager at Lyft. He also served as an attorney within the U.S. Commerce Department’s Office of the General Counsel. In that role, Kivork worked on rules to “protect U.S. manufacturers and exporters against unfair trade practices,” according to his LinkedIn.
The lawsuit comes during a busy period for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technology as companies race to gain Federal Aviation Administration certification to start flying commercially. ‘
The sector has also benefitted from President Donald Trump’s newly minted eVTOL pilot program.
Joby argued in the complaint that it’s “imperative” to protect Joby’s work “from this type of espionage” to promote the sector’s success and ensure fair competition.
Last week, Joby said it completed its first test flight for a hybrid aircraft it’s working on with defense contractor L3Harris. This month, Amazon-backed Beta Technologies, another electric flight company, also went public on the New York Stock Exchange.
Joby shares have more than doubled over the last year, while Archer is up about 36%.
In August 2023, Archer settled a previous legal dispute with Boeing-owned Wisk Aero over the alleged theft of trade secrets. As part of the deal, Archer agreed to use Wisk as its autonomous tech partner.
Joby and Archer year-to-date stock chart.
