A federal judge in Northern California has narrowed, but not dismissed, Joby Aviation's trade-secret lawsuit against rival electric air-taxi maker Archer Aviation, allowing claims tied to a former Joby executive and a Los Angeles airport leasing dispute to move forward. The ruling, issued September 29, trims a case that has pitted two of California's best-known eVTOL developers against each other since 2025.
What the Court Kept and What It Tossed
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California cut back on claims in the ongoing litigation between the two air-taxi makers, according to Investing.com. Archer itself said the ruling dismissed some of Joby's trade-secret and contract claims, as well as Archer's own counterclaims, per the company's own characterization reported by KSL.com. Still, the court found that Joby had sufficiently alleged Archer and former policy executive George Kivork misappropriated proprietary information about leasing space at a Los Angeles airport, according to Bloomberg Law.
Bloomberg Law's report notes the court also determined there was a plausible threat that Archer and Kivork would further misappropriate those and other trade secrets, allowing that portion of the case to proceed. The outlet's reporting frames the decision as a partial loss for Archer and Kivork, who largely failed to get the lawsuit dismissed outright. Law360 similarly described the outcome as clearing Joby to advance a slimmed-down version of its case, even as the judge again rejected Archer's counterclaims alleging Joby unfairly jockeyed for government contracts and concealed ties to China, the outlet reported.
How the Dispute Began
Joby sued Archer in 2025, alleging a former employee took confidential information related to business strategies, partnership terms and aircraft specifications before joining the rival company, the same Investing.com report states. Joby also alleged Archer misused those trade secrets to undercut one of Joby's agreements with a real-estate developer. The company sought an unspecified amount of monetary damages along with a court order preventing Archer from using its trade secrets going forward.
The legal fight is part of a broader rivalry described by the Los Angeles Times between San Jose-based Archer and Santa Cruz-based Joby, both of which plan to offer commercial air-taxi service using electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Archer is building toward operating air taxis in Los Angeles in time for the 2028 Olympic Games, while Joby is laying groundwork for service in Dubai, according to the Times. Aerospace consultant Sergio Cecutta told the paper that Archer is roughly one to two years behind Joby in aircraft development.
Beyond the Courtroom
Both companies went public in 2021 through mergers with special purpose acquisition companies, and both are developing electric air taxis while also pursuing defense applications for the underlying technology, per TechCrunch. The federal government's push into the sector has already touched both firms: the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration approved eight proposals under an electric-aircraft pilot program spanning 26 states, with Archer winning approval to participate in three of them and Joby landing five, TechCrunch reported.
On the technical side, FlightGlobal reported that Joby recently completed demonstration flights in Texas of its in-development electric air taxi, underscoring the pace at which both companies are racing toward commercial service even as their legal dispute grinds on in federal court. Archer's own aircraft, known as Midnight, is the company's all-electric entrant in that same race.
