Sky-Uber Battle Erupts as Joby Accuses Archer of Using Stolen Files to Pull Off a Contract Heist

“Your honor, it’s all a coincidence… we had no knowledge of the confidential files our new employee downloaded at his previous job… and we absolutely would never use those confidential files to steal their partnership deal.”

That’s essentially Archer Aviation’s right now… the equivalent of a kid standing next to a broken lamp saying, “It was like that when I got here.”

So go ahead and toss a bag of popcorn into the nearest microwave, because Joby Aviation just dropped a lawsuit accusing rival Archer of full-blown corporate espionage. And if we’re keeping it a buck, this storyline is better written than half the stuff on Max right now.

(Source: CNBC)

Here’s the gist… Joby says its former policy lead, George Kivork (a guy who used to work at Lyft and even did time at the Commerce Department writing rules against unfair trade) allegedly downloaded a stack of confidential files two days before quitting. Then he apparently walked straight over to Archer and helped them “one-up” a partnership deal with a real estate developer.

Joby’s lawsuit basically reads like: We had a deal locked… then Archer showed up with our own homework and a nicer offer. The developer suddenly tried to bail and claim confidentiality issues, Joby investigated, and allegedly George wasn’t exactly eager to hand the files back.

Archer’s response is about as predictable as a Liam Neeson movie. They’re calling the entire thing “baseless litigation,” insisting George wasn’t even technical and couldn’t possibly have brought over anything worth stealing. They even bragged about their onboarding procedures like they’re TSA for corporate secrets.

The whole ordeal feels like two startups in a parking lot yelling “YOU’RE LYING!” while throwing press releases instead of punches.

And perfect timing too the eVTOL industry is in its peak puberty phase. Everyone’s trying to be first to fly, first to impress the FAA, first to land a military contract, and first to tell investors “Please don’t ask how long it takes to charge this thing.” Joby just pulled off a hybrid test flight with L3Harris. Amazon-backed Beta Technologies rang the bell on the NYSE. Archer inked a defense partnership with Anduril that screams “we’re building something the Pentagon will definitely overspend on.”

All of this is happening while the FAA drags its pen across certification paperwork and the White House rolls out an eVTOL pilot program of its own. Combine that with Joby’s stock doubling in a year and Archer’s rising 36%, and yeah… the stakes are stupidly high.

But the best part is that this isn’t even Archer’s first ride at Lawsuit Mountain. Boeing’s Wisk previously accused them of stealing more than 50 trade secrets. That one ended in a settlement, a partnership, and probably several attorneys buying new boats.

Now Joby is stepping up to the plate with its own “planned and premeditated espionage” claim…  which cranks the temperature up like 1,000 degrees.

The hearing isn’t until March 2026, meaning there’s a decent chance we’ll all be flying around in electric sky Ubers before a judge even gets to ask, “So, Mr. Kivork, what exactly did you do with these files?”

But it’s definitely gonna be a fun Suits-level episode to watch in real time.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Amazon and Uber as mentioned in the article.