Joby Aviation filed a lawsuit this week in California Superior Court alleging that rival Archer Aviation used confidential information taken by a former Joby employee.
The company said George Kivork, its former U.S. state and local policy lead, downloaded sensitive files and emailed additional material to a personal account two days before resigning in July. The complaint said the information included details of Joby’s exclusive partnership agreement with a real estate developer, along with commercial, regulatory and infrastructure strategy documents.
In addition to the real estate partnership information, Joby alleged that Kivork also stole “highly valuable trade secret information about Joby’s aircraft and operations, business and regulatory strategy, infrastructure strategy, and site analysis for potential vertiports and airport access.”
The complaint said that by August, the developer tied to that agreement reported that Archer had approached it with a proposal reflecting “highly confidential” details from its partnership with Joby. It alleged those details helped Archer structure a “more lucrative deal,” and the developer later moved to terminate its agreement with Joby, citing a breach of confidentiality.
Archer has denied any wrongdoing, said no deal was reached with that developer, and told AVweb that Kivork did not bring any information to the company.
“Joby alleges we used their trade secrets to win a ‘deal’ with a developer, but the reality is that Archer has no deal with this developer and Mr. Kivork did not bring any Joby confidential information to Archer,” said Eric Lentell, Archer’s chief legal & strategy officer. “Joby knows these facts and is now improperly attempting to achieve through bad faith litigation what it cannot accomplish through fair competition. Archer remains focused on building the future of advanced aviation in America.”
A spokesperson for Archer also said the company “ran forensics during the hiring process as we always do and found nothing,” which she said was communicated with Joby.
A hearing in the case is scheduled for March 20, 2026.
The lawsuit comes as companies in the eVTOL sector pursue Federal Aviation Administration certification for commercial operations.
The company recently completed a first test flight of a hybrid aircraft developed with defense contractor L3Harris and has begun final testing phases of its first FAA-conforming aircraft. Archer, meanwhile, recently acquired the patents of a former competitor and has secured regional agreements to explore air taxi system buildouts globally, including in Korea and Japan. Archer also purchased an L.A. area airport earlier this month to anchor its regional air taxi network there.
Both companies also intend to participate in the FAA’s Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) that would see the companies partner with regional U.S. authorities in a three-year intiative to jumpstart deployment of air taxis nationwide.
Very funny. Does it matter though? There is no real market for these silly contraptions, a solution to a non-existent problem funded by taxpayers and dupes.
Everybody knows. For what Archer lacks in flying, they compensate from spying.