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Joby Sues Archer, Alleging Stolen Files Were Used to Poach Real-Estate Partnership

The case underscores how control of vertiport sites plus partner terms can determine early eVTOL deployment.

Overview

  • Joby filed the complaint in California Superior Court in Santa Cruz, accusing Archer of exploiting confidential material to outbid it for a developer partnership.
  • The suit says former Joby policy lead George Kivork downloaded files and sent material to a personal email two days before resigning in July to join Archer.
  • Joby alleges Archer approached its real-estate partner with a more lucrative proposal informed by confidential terms, prompting the developer to seek termination citing a confidentiality breach.
  • Archer denies wrongdoing and calls the case meritless, while Joby says Archer has not explained how it learned the deal terms or shared any internal probe results.
  • A court hearing is set for March 20, 2026, as both firms pursue FAA certification, with Joby recently completing a hybrid test flight with L3Harris.