A court battle between California air taxi developers Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation has taken a turn, with Archer now accusing its competitor of fraud related to improper business relationships with China and the Chinese government.
Joby had in November 2025 sued Archer and one of its employees in US federal court for allegedly stealing trade secrets. Archer has denied those claims.
On 9 March, Archer filed the counterclaim alleging that Joby has unfairly benefited from ties to China.
Joby’s attorney Alex Spiro calls the allegations “nonsense”.
“Archer’s constant legal issues and flailing business operations have left it no choice but to resort to invented nonsensical theories,” he says. “We will see them in court.”
The counterclaim is the latest development in a case involving two of the USA’s most-known start-up developers of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. The companies are racing to achieve certification for their designs – and eager to keep investors optimistic about the projects, which are immensely expensive, face regulatory and technical uncertainty and are based on unproven demand assumptions.
Archer is simultaneously suing another competitor, Vertical Aerospace, for alleged patent infringement.
It now alleges that Joby has carried out a scheme to “defraud the US government, the public and its main competitor”.
“Joby has falsely presented itself as a domestically rooted, American-made, fully vertically integrated aviation company while covertly relying on its Chinese manufacturing subsidiary, sourcing critical components from Chinese suppliers,” says Archer’s claim in US District Court for the Northern District of California.
It alleges Joby has ties to China’s communist party and that a Joby subsidiary has received technology development grants from China’s government.
Archer claims Joby did so while positioning itself as dedicated to US industry and innovation, helping it secure US government contracts, including those with the US Air Force, and helping it land a position as part of a Trump administration programme to aid the USA’s air taxi industry.
Archer also alleges that Joby, or those working on its behalf, “misclassified” imported Chinese goods on shipping records, hiding “Chinese components” and avoiding import tariffs.
Archer claims it has suffered harm as a result, including from “artificial cost disadvantages, lost regulatory standing and diminished access to government programmes”.
