Electric air taxi developer Archer Aviation responded to a lawsuit Monday with its own counterclaims that rival Joby Aviation allegedly defrauded the U.S. government and its competitors by falsely presenting itself as an American-made company.
The counterclaim, filed in federal court, alleges Joby relied on a Chinese manufacturing subsidiary to source critical components from Chinese suppliers with Chinese government support. Archer further alleges that Joby tried to conceal its “deep ties” to China by fraudulently misclassifying thousands of pounds of Chinese-origin aircraft materials as consumer goods — labeling them as hair clips, socks, and photo albums — to evade U.S. tariffs and foreign-influence oversight.
Joby was founded in 2009 in Santa Cruz, California, where it has maintained its corporate headquarters. The company also has facilities in several other U.S. cities and operates internationally in Germany, Austria, Costa Rica, and Shenzhen, China, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Alex Spiro, an attorney for Joby, said in an emailed statement that the company “doesn’t respond to nonsense.”
“Archer’s constant legal issues and flailing business operations have left it no choice but to resort to invented nonsensical theories,” Spiro said. “We will see them in court.”
The countersuit comes four months after Joby sued Archer over allegations of trade secret theft. In that lawsuit, filed in November in the Superior Court of California in Santa Cruz County, Joby alleges that former Joby employee George Kivork took trade secrets with him when he left to join Archer, which then used them.
Both Joby and Archer, which is based in San Jose, California, went public in 2021 via mergers with special purpose acquisition companies. The competitors are pursuing similar, often overlapping markets. Both are developing electric air taxis as well as pursuing defense applications for their technology.
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The timing of Archer’s countersuit is notable, especially the language in the complaint that refers to a recent executive order by President Trump. That executive order directed the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration to launch a pilot program to accelerate the development and commercialization of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Both companies recently applied to that program, formerly known as as the Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Integration Pilot Program.
“Wrapping itself in the American flag and marketing its aircraft as ‘Committed to American Innovation,’ Joby has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from the United States government, including U.S. Air Force contracts, and has positioned itself to be a key player in President Trump’s effort to accelerate the integration of air taxis in the United States under his 2025 ‘Unleashing American Drone Dominance’ Executive Order,” the complaint alleges.
On Monday, the DOT and FAA approved eight proposals for the pilot program spanning 26 states. Archer won approval to participate in three of them, while Joby landed five of them.
