Joby Aviation filed a lawsuit for the theft of trade secrets last week against Archer Aviation, the latest skirmish in the race to first mover advantage in the highly competitive electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) marketplace.
Joby alleges that Archer improperly utilized confidential information obtained from a former Joby executive, George Kivork, who joined the company earlier this year. That information is alleged to include business strategies, partnership terms, and aircraft specifications. The plaintiff also alleges this information was used to undercut Joby in a real estate development project.
The respondent indicated that there was no deal with a developer and that Mr. Kivork did not bring any confidential information to Archer. This case could become interesting at trial, if not settled beforehand.
Archer was previously sued by Wisk Aero, an eVTOL company financially supported by Boeing in 2021, alleging the theft of trade secrets and patent infringement. After suits and counter-suits, the case was settled in 2023. The result was Archer receiving a substantial investment from Boeing and agreeing to utilize Wisk’s autonomous technology for future aircraft models. Wisk is now wholly-owned by Boeing.
Archer also added to its intellectual property earlier this year when it purchased at auction the IP of Lilium, a German company that was developing an alternate eVTOL design but ended up in bankruptcy before it could complete and certify its design. Those additional patents bring the total to well over 1,000 patents for eVTOL elements. At least in this segment, spy versus spy appears to exist.
The Bottom Line
There are six well funded companies going after the eVTOL market, which is likely to shake-out to only one or two over time. Archer, Joby, Wisk, Beta, eHang, and Embraer are all well-funded eVTOL start-ups in a race to launch their technology, which was done by eHang in China. Archer has been selected as the air-taxi provider for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. But the official air-taxi provider for Paris 2024 went belly-up, and in this segment, success or failure is hard to predict and things can move south quickly.
It appears Archer, with its IP acquisition and strong funding, is emerging with Joby as one of the leaders in the US market, with China’s E-hang and Embraer’s EVE strongest internationally. It will be interesting to watch the shakeout in this market, which is unlikely to be able to support six major players.
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