US judge tosses Archer’s China-ties claims against competitor Joby

The judge also left in place several of Joby’s trade-secret-theft claims against Archer.
A US Federal judge has tossed Archer Aviation’s claims that it suffered harm after competitor Joby Aviation allegedly misled the US government by hiding ties to China and to China’s communist party.

Judge Susan van Keulen of the US District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed the claims in an order issued on 29 September, the latest development in a case that has embroiled two of the most prominent developers of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

The companies had both sued the other. Joby has alleged that Archer and one of its employees – Richard Kivork – stole and misappropriated trade secrets. Some of those claims remain in effect.

But Archer countersued on grounds that it suffered economic harm by missing out on US government contracts that Joby won only by hiding ties to China.

The judge has now dismissed Archer’s claims, calling them “vague and speculative” and insufficient to support allegations that Joby “provided false information or failed to disclose material information” to the US Air Force.

Van Keulen also ruled that Archer’s claims are invalid under a legal doctrine called Noerr-Pennington, which grants antitrust immunity to companies’ petitions to the government.

Archer did not immediately provide a comment to FlightGlobal.

Joby says it “is very pleased that the court has dismissed Archer’s claims against Joby for a second time and with prejudice”.

“The court found that Archer’s allegations lacked a sufficient factual basis,” the air taxi developer adds. “Joby remains focused on protecting its intellectual property and pursuing its claims against Archer and Mr Kivork, which continue to move forward.”

Archer’s Midnight air taxi during a 2025 flight at the California International air show in Salinas. Source: Archer

The companies, both based in California, began their tussle last November when Joby sued Archer. It said one of its former employees – George Kivork – stole trade secrets and delivered them to Archer, where Kivork took a job.

Archer used those secrets to undermine a real estate deal between Joby and Hawthorne Municipal airport near Los Angeles, Joby has alleged. Joby also said the actions violated a proprietary information deal it had with Kivork.

Archer’s countersuit alleged that Joby falsely portrayed itself as “American-made [and] vertically integrated” when seeking government contracts. Joby won the deals only by hiding its reliance on Chinese components and other ties to that country; otherwise, Archer would have won them, that company said.

Archer has separately filed a similar complaint against Joby with the US International Trade Commission, which is now investigating.

In her 29 September ruling, Judge van Keulen did dismiss some of Joby’s claims against Archer and Kivork, including those related to Kivork allegedly breaching some provisions of his contract with Joby.

But van Keulen refused to toss other Joby claims, including some involving Archer allegedly “inducing” Kivork to breach his contract with Joby and related to alleged trade-secret theft.

“Joby has sufficiently alleged that Kivork and Archer misappropriated trade secrets regarding leasing space at the Hawthorne airport,” the order says.

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