The legal feud between U.S. eVTOL rivals Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation took another twist this week, with a federal judge dismissing Archer's fraud counterclaims accusing Joby of hiding business ties to China, while simultaneously tossing some of Joby's original trade-secret allegations against Archer.
What the June 5 ruling does
Judge Susan van Keulen, sitting in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, ruled that Archer's counterclaims were "muddled" and constituted "shotgun pleadings" that failed to give Joby enough detail to respond. Archer had alleged that a Joby subsidiary received Chinese technology development grants while the company positioned itself as a U.S.-aligned defense innovator. The judge permitted Archer to amend and refile its counterclaim by June 29.
At the same time, the court dismissed many of Joby's original trade-secret claims, including those tied to stolen technical secrets, and gave Joby until June 22 to refile. The judge left in place one critical Joby claim: that Archer and former Joby employee George Kivork interfered with a "skydeck" real estate development agreement.
How the dispute escalated
The litigation began in November 2025 when Joby sued Archer over alleged trade-secret misappropriation. Archer countersued in March 2026, accusing Joby of misclassifying imported Chinese components on shipping records. In April, Archer also filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission alleging Joby's imported Chinese parts infringed Archer patents; that investigation is still ongoing. Earlier this year we covered the rivalry in our eVTOL lawsuits feature.
Both sides claim partial victory
Archer called the dismissal "primarily procedural" and said it intends to refile. Joby countered that Archer's allegations were "ludicrous and defamatory" and welcomed the survival of its core misappropriation claim. With Vertical Aerospace and Eve Air Mobility closing in on transition flights, the courtroom risk to U.S. certification timelines is becoming as important as engineering progress.
Reporting based on coverage from FlightGlobal and court filings.