Joby Aviation has filed a lawsuit against Archer Aviation, accusing its competitor of using stolen trade secrets taken by a former employee to interfere with its business operations. The complaint was submitted on Thursday in the Superior Court of California in Santa Cruz County and outlines multiple allegations against Archer and George Kivork, a former Joby employee who later joined Archer.
According to the filing, Joby alleges that two days before announcing his resignation, Kivork “exfiltrated a cache of highly valuable Joby filings containing confidential partnerships terms, business and regulatory strategies, infrastructure strategies for vertiports and airport access, and technical information about Joby’s aircraft and operations.” Joby claims Archer later approached one of its strategic partners and disclosed detailed information from what it says were confidential terms known to Kivork.
“This is corporate espionage, planned and premeditated,” the lawsuit states, adding that Kivork and Archer’s actions “left Joby with no choice but to bring this action to protect Joby’s valuable confidential and proprietary information.”
Archer rejected the accusations, saying Joby’s legal move is unfounded. “Joby is turning to baseless litigation in an attempt to distract from its own shortcomings and slow down its leading competitor,” Eric Lentell, Archer’s chief legal and strategy officer, said in a statement to TechCrunch. “Joby’s case is entirely without merit… Joby is improperly attempting to weaponize the legal system to achieve through bad faith litigation what it cannot accomplish through fair competition.”
Both companies, headquartered in California, went public in 2021 via SPAC mergers and are pursuing electric air taxi development alongside military applications. Archer recently signed an exclusive agreement with Anduril to co-develop a hybrid VTOL aircraft, while Joby is working with L3Harris Technologies to explore autonomous gas-turbine hybrid VTOL platforms.
The legal dispute marks a new phase in an already competitive sector. Archer has previously faced similar accusations; in 2021, Wisk—now a Boeing subsidiary—filed a lawsuit alleging “brazen theft” of trade secrets. That case, which involved more than 50 alleged stolen files, was settled two years later with both companies agreeing to collaborate.
