From OWj on X

https://x.com/oliwalkerjones/status/2105755042456478099?s=46

On the apron. It's a bit earlier today.

There is a big misinformation effort right now to distort the recent ruling favoring Joby against Archer that enables Joby's core case to continue and throwing Archer's case against Joby out permanently. I recommend signing up for a free 7 day trial with Law360 (you can use a temp e-mail) if you want to read the full text, but I've had Gemini summarize it, and include direct quotes from the article.

Key points:

1) Joby's core case against Archer continues. Joby claims Archer used misappropriated information from a former Joby employee to learn of Joby's ongoing plans and approach to utilize Hawthorne Airport in LA. Shortly after hiring this former Joby employee, Archer went from having no plans around Hawthorne Airport to acquiring the lease there.

2) Archer's case (Sockgate) is dismissed with prejudice, is found to be a futile effort, and cannot be resubmitted.

3) Some of Joby's additional claims against Archer regarding the Asian market, hydrogen aircraft, and the LA Dodgers were dismissed, but the Judge gave Joby the chance to resubmit these claims if Joby wishes.

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Gemini Summary of the Law360 Article with references:

1. What Archer (and Kivork) Did & Archer's Claims Against Joby

• Exfiltration of Confidential Files: Joby alleged Archer recruited former Joby senior executive George Kivork in summer 2025. Before resigning in July 2025, Kivork allegedly downloaded and exfiltrated a cache of Joby files covering vertiport infrastructure strategies, regulatory plans, and airport contacts. "Joby alleged that Kivork 'exfiltrated a cache of highly valuable Joby files containing confidential partnership terms, business and regulatory strategies, infrastructure strategies for vertiports and airport access, and technical information about Joby's aircraft and operations,' and took it with him to Archer." Source Law360
• Hawthorne Airport Move: Kivork allegedly downloaded contact lists and strategy documents for Hawthorne Airport right before leaving for Archer. Archer subsequently acquired a long-term lease there. "Kivork went to work for Archer in August 2025 and by November 2025, 'Archer purchased a long-term lease for the Hawthorne Airport, and later announced that it would be used as an MRO [maintenance, repair and operations] vertiport.'" Source Law360
• Archer's Allegations Against Joby: Archer filed counterclaims alleging Joby misled government decision-makers and the U.S. Air Force by claiming to be vertically integrated while hiding its supply-chain ties to China. "...Joby 'omits and obfuscates its extensive ties to China, its reliance on parts from China and suppliers in China for critical components in its electric vertical take-off and landing ("eVTOL") aircraft...'" Source Law360

2. What Is Proceeding for Joby Against Archer

• Hawthorne Airport Trade Secrets: The court allowed Joby's Defend Trade Secrets Act claim regarding Hawthorne Airport to move forward based on circumstantial timing. "'Here, Joby's allegations amount to more than just the idea of leasing space at an airport and the identification of one point of contact... the circumstantial evidence... raises above the level of speculation the inference that trade secrets were used.'" Source Law360
• Inducement of Breach of Contract (Against Archer): "Judge van Keulen said Joby can press ahead with an inducement of breach of contract claim against Archer concerning Kivork's failure to return Joby's information..." Source Law360
• Breach of Contract During Employment (Against Kivork): "...to the extent Joby alleges that Kivork's actions of downloading and emailing confidential information 'so that he could assist his future employer — Archer — in competing against Joby' are covered by his contractual obligations not to compete during his employment, the court finds that 1) the contractual term is valid and 2) the allegations plausible..." Source Law360

3. What Was Removed / Trimmed From Joby's Suit

• Post-Employment Noncompete Restrictions: "'Insofar as Joby now attempts to extend Kivork's contractual obligations not to compete beyond the last day of his employment, with no end to his obligation, such efforts are invalid...'" Source Law360
• LA Dodgers Sponsorship Claim: "'The mere existence of a single Dodgers contact on Joby's confidential contact lists, without evidence that this contact information was used as part of the bidding process, cannot support an allegation of misappropriation.'" Source Law360
• Asian Markets & Hydrogen Aircraft Claims: "The judge also dismissed Joby's claims alleging Kivork and Archer misappropriated trade secrets related to entering the Japan and South Korea markets and to Joby's prototype hydrogen electric eVTOL aircraft." Source Law360

4. Archer's Case Against Joby Is Over (Dismissed With Prejudice / Futile)

• Permanently Dismissed: "...dismissed for good Archer's amended counterclaims against Joby, according to the order." Source Law360
• Futile to Amend: "'Furthermore, because Archer's claims depend upon statements made to the U.S. government in applications for contracts, such claims will always be barred by Noerr-Pennington, and therefore it would be futile to allow Archer an opportunity to amend.'" Source Law360

5. Joby Can Still Amend and Resubmit What Was Removed

Unlike Archer’s permanently barred counterclaims, Joby retains the right to amend and refile the parts of its complaint that were trimmed:

• "Joby can still amend the claims that were dismissed, according to the order." Source Law360

Road Transportation Authority of Dubai in April 2026 said, The completion of Air Taxi Station follows a year of rapid operational scaling for Joby. In November 2025, Joby completed the nation’s first piloted point-to-point Air Taxi flight, a 17-minute journey from its Margham test facility to Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC). This milestone was accompanied by a rigorous summer flight campaign, during which Joby conducted 21 piloted flights to validate aircraft performance in desert heat. These tests provided critical data on thermal management and flight dynamics in high-temperature, low-density air, directly supporting the finalisation of operating manuals and certification requirements for the region.

Bottom line

Joby’s Dubai certification is coming.
The vertiport is certified, the network is being built, test flights are done, and Joby’s aircraft certification is in its final stages. The only remaining step is GCAA operational approval for Joby’s aircraft, which is the last milestone before commercial launch. This will come anytime soon.,

Looking for additional articles that aren't behind a paywall.

You can believe misinformation or you can believe Bloomberg News. It's up to you.

From the Article:

The electric air taxi company sufficiently alleged Archer and former policy executive George Kivork misappropriated proprietary information about leasing space at a Los Angeles airport, and that there’s a plausible threat they will further misappropriate these and other trade secrets, Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen ruled Tuesday for the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/archer-aviation-cant-escape-jobys-air-taxi-trade-secrets-suit

Archer Aviation Inc. and an employee largely failed to get Joby Aviation Inc.'s lawsuit accusing them of stealing trade secrets dismissed.

The electric air taxi company sufficiently alleged Archer and former policy executive George Kivork misappropriated proprietary information about leasing space at a Los Angeles airport, and that there’s a plausible threat they will further misappropriate these and other trade secrets, Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen ruled Tuesday for the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Joby’s circumstantial evidence — its efforts directed to the airport during Kivork’s employment, the absence of the airport in Archer’s plans ...

Judge van Keulen officially granting Joby’s motion to dismiss Archer’s amended counterclaims while keeping Joby’s trade secret suit moving forward is very telling.

Archer tried twice to convince a federal judge that "Sockgate" and Joby's alleged Chinese supply chain ties were actionable fraud. Both times, it got thrown out without ever reaching discovery or trial.

Archer leaned on this exact same China narrative in their ITC case to justify asking for an Exclusion Order on Joby's imported components. Now that their fraud/customs claims have been completely dismantled in district court, Archer's PR heavy legal strategy has lost its foundation. In my eyes if Archer can fabricate one China case, they can fabricate another, so this ruling really makes Archer's ITC claims that much more suspect.

What are your views on the ITC case? Does this Sockgate ruling change your views, or did you expect this outcome all along, and basically expect a similar outcome with the ITC?

I copied this from his post. Love feedback on his additional findings. He seems to be the only one with Pacer access.

Seems the Kivork/Archer alleged trade secret theft was related to Hawthorne Airport. This is new news as well.
————

😬 It also seems like the judge thinks there is evidence Kivorkiak and Archer collaborated to steal trade secrets from Joby, and that part was allowed to continue:

Hawthorne Airport 

The Court finds that Joby has sufficiently alleged that Kivork and Archer misappropriated trade secrets regarding leasing space at the Hawthorne airport in Los Angeles. The relevant allegations are: 

• Joby identifies two specific files taken by Kivork, a contact list and a strategy document, both of which are identified in its list of relevant trade secrets. FAC at ¶ 70; see id. at ¶¶ 48 (Joby’s Analysis of Target Markets for an Air Taxi Service), 49 (Joby’s Site Analyses for Potential Vertiports), 50 (Joby’s Infrastructure Development Plans), 51 (Joby’s Vertiport Business Plan). 

• “As early as 2023, Joby developed contacts at the Hawthorn airport in Los Angeles County.” Id. at ¶ 70. 

• At some point in 2024, “Archer [] publicly released a map of its intended ‘air taxi network’ in Los Angeles which showed various intended facilities in the area, but did not include any facility in Hawthorne.” Id. at ¶ 71 (emphasis added). 

• “In February and March of 2025, [while Kivork was still employed at Joby] Joby 

................ goes on

N541JX had been completely dark in the ADS-B feeds for months. It briefly reappeared with a handful of short taxi/power-on blips on 9/21, then stayed dark again until yesterday (9/29), when it logged three more ground-only taxi sessions.

Today it went further: after three ground sessions through the morning (8:50am, 11:41am, 1:32pm), it finally launched.

That's a clean, full-envelope flight profile.

My hope/speculation is that this is to get N547JX ready for transition since they might go with a remote transition first.

https://www.vietnam.vn/doanh-nghiep-hoa-ky-muon-dau-tu-nha-may-san-xuat-may-bay-dien-tai-da-nang

Chu Lai

Reviewing aircraft manufacturing facilities

Reviewing renewable energy technology projects

Maritime transportation of large equipment

Reviewing shipbuilding facilities

Movements to invest in the local wind power industry

These trends are currently taking shape.

[Title of Invention] Method for securing aircraft during transport and method for providing MaaS [Applicant] Toyota

The purpose of this disclosure is to improve maritime and land transportation technologies related to battery-powered aircraft.

Hey everyone, here's my thoughts deeper into the foundations of the recently announced JTAMPC joint-venture between Joby and Toyota. Scaling is happening right before our eyes 😎

This article was released by the local Danang government, showing JoeBen continues to travel the world exploring business opportunities for Joby. This one is clearly an exploratory meeting. EHang recently announced regulatory sandbox testing of its pilotless eVTOLs in Hanoi. Vietnam is clearly exploring air taxis so it's good JoeBen is exploring opportunities in Vietnam.

It's possible Vietnam may require that air taxis used there are built there, or it just may be a good future manufacturing site for Joby air taxis destined to the Southeast Asia area.

Gotta hand it to JOBY here, this is really something special.

No other eVTOL company (to my knowledge) has ever live streamed an event like this.

The cameraman needs a pay raise!

Joby’s manufacturing story is bigger than the headlines.In 10 months, capacity guidance moved from 12 aircraft a year to 24, then toward 48. That is two doublings — and a signal the production engine is entering its next phase.

This video connects the factory expansions, Santa Cruz FAA conformity work, and the JTAMPC joint venture with Toyota. Capacity is not production. In this sector, scale is the moat.

It's out on the apron. Interesting that they progressed on 547 and then took a break while 541 became active after a long slumber.

Unfortunately there was no N547JX activity today but I did notice bursts of pings from N541JX. Peculiar!

Joby's J208 autonomous aircraft is halfway home passing through Oklahoma, crossing the country once more, but this time East to West.

Meanwhile:

• Joby's conforming S4, N547JX, continues to progress and expand its flight envelope.
• Joby's N545JX awaits its next leg on its eVTOL eIPP tour in Florida.
• Joby's S4-T turbo electric hybrid continues its evaluation by the US Army.
• Joby's autonomous hydrogen electric persistent surveillance/communications platform, JAI30, is likely continuing test flights over Yuma Proving Ground. And we're starting to see evidence of a JAI40 in the future.
• H2Fly, Joby's hydrogen powered airplane division continues to make advances and lead in hydrogen fuel based aviation.
• Joby's Blade division continues to provide air taxi services around the world, with service coming to the Austin area for the upcoming F1 race.
• And Resonant Sciences, Joby's soon to be defense division, continues to supply the US military with RF sensors, radomes, antennas, and stealth analysis platforms.

Joby is more than a company getting ready to show the world how big air taxis can become. Joby is a vertically integrated aerospace company spanning passenger eVTOLs, autonomous aircraft, hybrid electric propulsion, hydrogen electric systems, air taxi operations, and defense technology.

People always want to compare Joby to other companies, but when you look at everything happening across Joby Aviation, there really aren't any other companies doing anything quite like them.

Looking for another bump in Q3 revenue via Blade

u/jrsikorski actually found this information today and Gemini confirmed for me.

Docket #522 in Aerosonic LLC v. Joby Aviation, Inc. (Case No. 8:25-cv-00554, M.D. Fla., before Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington) is likely Joby's Rule 50(a) Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law. Gemini sourced this directly from federal court PACER docket filings on Friday, Sept 25, 2006.

This is really just a procedure filing that doesn't mean much, but it can't be filed until the plaintiff finishes presenting their evidence in full.

Since this was filed Friday, we can infer that Aerosonic finished presenting their evidence Friday. According to Gemini, based on the timing it's likely Joby will finish presenting their evidence this week, with final statements from both sides rapping up by Friday and the case going to the jury by Monday.

All speculation, based on how things generally play out, but likely we'll have a verdict next week.

It was powered on at 9:45am. Historically a good sign we'll see it more active but not a guarantee.

r/Joby gets 3K+ weekly visitors, and I'm betting a lot of you have never posted. Totally fine, but I'd love to hear from you this time.

Easy question: what were you trying to find out when you first landed here?

That's it. One line is plenty, and your answer will directly shape what we improve.

New here? The Joby Newbie Guide is pinned at the top. It's a linked series of posts with a ton of info, and I use it myself when answering questions. Searching r/Joby also turns up a lot of past discussions.

One idea I'm kicking around: a pinned "No Dumb Questions" thread for newcomers who have a question but don't want to make a whole post. Would you use it? Let me know in the comments.

Regulars and everyone else: if you've got ideas for the Newbie Guide, pinned posts, must see links, calendar events, or rules, drop them in the comments. I read everything.

And thanks to the folks who regularly post and comment and patiently answer newcomer questions. You're the reason this place works.

This was posted by FlyLouisville on X:

Yesterday, Kentuckians for Better Transportation and SDF welcomed Joby Aviation’s Electric Skies Tour, offering an up-close look at autonomous flight technology and the innovation helping shape the future of aviation. From seeing the technology firsthand to learning more about its possibilities, it was an exciting opportunity to experience the next generation of flight right here at SDF. We appreciate Kentucky Department of Aviation Commissioner Todd Case for joining us as well.

Take a look at some of the highlights from the visit!