Quick Take
Air taxi company Joby is suing rival Archer in Santa Cruz, alleging a former Joby employee leaked confidential terms of a real estate deal when he joined Archer earlier this year. Archer has denied the allegations. The case is unfolding as both companies rush to pursue FAA certification for their electric aircraft and launch commercial air taxi services.
Santa Cruz-based Joby Aviation is accusing one of its main competitors, Archer Aviation, of stealing trade secrets. In a lawsuit filed last week in Santa Cruz County Superior Court, the electric taxi company claims Archer hired away a Joby employee and used confidential information from him to secure a deal with a real estate developer.
The case highlights the intense competition among Joby, Archer and other companies in the race to be first to the market with commercial service for what are known as electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. Essentially, they are electric helicopters that will eventually provide consumer taxi-like services. Joby’s are designed to carry a pilot and four passengers at speeds of up to 200 mph. The company’s goal for commercial service is to operate much like Uber or Lyft, where consumers can use a mobile app to hail a car.
According to Joby’s lawsuit, Archer recruited George Kivork to work for the company this past summer. At the time, Kivork was Joby’s U.S. state and local policy lead, leading lobbying efforts for state and local policy strategies that support introduction and operation of Joby’s electric air taxi service. This position gave him access to confidential and proprietary information regarding the company’s strategic partnerships, regulatory strategies, technical information and more, Joby said in its lawsuit. The suit also alleges that two days before Kivork announced his resignation, he downloaded a cache of confidential Joby files.
It claims that a “major real estate developer” approached Joby leaders three weeks later and told them Archer representatives had information about the confidential terms of a partnership the developer had with Joby. Archer had reached out to the developer and proposed a deal that was designed to undercut the deal the developer had with Joby, according to the suit. Kivork was privy to that information and it was contained in the files he’s accused of stealing.
“Archer brazenly used that stolen information to interfere with Joby’s exclusive strategic partnership,” the suit alleges. “Significant amounts of other Joby confidential information remain at risk in Kivork and/or Archer’s possession. This is corporate espionage, planned and premeditated.”
Joby hired an outside vendor to investigate Kivork’s deactivated Joby accounts and company-issued laptop. That investigation found that Kivork had downloaded dozens of files from Joby’s systems before he announced his resignation, and he’d sent files to one of his personal accounts, the lawsuit claims. Those files included not only information about Joby’s agreement with the developer, but also highly valuable trade secret information about Joby’s aircraft, operations and site analysis, among other elements.
Joby officials declined to comment further on the case, with Charles Stewart, a Joby spokesman, telling Lookout, “the complaint explains that this behavior left Joby with no choice but to bring this action to protect its confidential and proprietary information.”
Archer denies the accusations. “Joby alleges we used 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 and strategy officer, in a statement shared with Lookout. “Joby knows these facts and is now properly 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.”
The case now goes to a Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge to determine next steps, with a hearing set for March 20, 2026.
Archer and Joby are among the most prominent companies working to launch electric air taxi service in the U.S. and globally, and both have joined as participants in a new federal pilot program aimed at accelerating development of eVTOLs.
Joby plans to launch service in the Middle East first, and has inked deals with government partners in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. Commercial passenger service in Dubai could begin as soon as sometime next year.
Earlier this month, the company announced it was starting testing for the final stage of the Federal Aviation Administration’s five-stage certification process for its aircraft, which must be completed before Joby can launch passenger service in the U.S. During what’s known as “type inspection authorization,” Joby will work side by side with the FAA to ensure its aircraft meets all safety and performance requirements.
Archer is also vying for federal certification, and it also has signed partnerships with entities in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Japan as steps toward launching service in those countries. Earlier this month, the company purchased a small airport near Los Angeles to serve as its operational hub for its planned Los Angeles air taxi network and as a testbed for new artificial intelligence-powered technologies.
The Monterey Bay region has emerged as a hotbed of innovation in this space. While Archer is headquartered in San Jose, it operates a testing facility near Salinas, and another competitor, Mountain View-based Wisk Aero, operates facilities in Salinas and Hollister.
Read Joby’s complaint against Archer
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