Tampa, United states: Joby Aviation has been ordered to pay nearly $116.9 million to aviation supplier Aerosonic after a federal jury found that the electric air-taxi developer breached a confidentiality agreement and misappropriated trade secrets linked to aircraft air data probes.
The case was heard in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida under case number 8:25-cv-00554. Aerosonic filed the lawsuit in March 2025 after supplying Joby with air data probes used to measure pressure around an aircraft.
The jury awarded $68.6 million for breaching a 2021 non-disclosure agreement, $29.9 million for trade secret misappropriation and another $18.3 million in exemplary damages after finding the misappropriation was wilful and malicious.
The dispute centres on air data probes, which provide pressure measurements used by an aircraft’s flight computers to determine information such as airspeed, altitude, angle of attack and angle of sideslip.
Joby and Aerosonic had signed a mutual non-disclosure agreement in September 2021 covering confidential technical and business information. Joby subsequently purchased Aerosonic probes while also working towards developing its own air data equipment.
Aerosonic alleged that Joby used proprietary designs, technical information and testing data from its probes while developing an in-house alternative. Court filings show that Joby began developing its own custom air probes in April 2022 and had developed a probe suitable for testing by March 2024.
The dispute later escalated after Aerosonic sent Joby a cease-and-desist letter in July 2024, alleging improper use of its confidential information. Joby denied wrongdoing and maintained that it had independently designed and developed its own air data probes for its aircraft and systems.
The jury also rejected Joby’s counterclaims against Aerosonic, including claims involving defective probes and alleged breaches of the agreement.
Joby Aviation has denied the allegations and challenged the verdict. The company is seeking to have the verdict overturned and plans to pursue available post-trial and appellate remedies.
The verdict is not yet a final judgment and can be subject to further court proceedings and a potential appeal.
The Aerosonic case is separate from another ongoing legal dispute involving Joby and rival eVTOL developer Archer Aviation. Joby sued Archer in 2025 over alleged misuse of confidential information that it says was taken by former employee George Kivork before he joined Archer.
On September 29, 2026, a US federal court in California dismissed some of Joby’s trade-secret and contract claims in that case while allowing other claims to continue. The court also dismissed Archer’s counterclaims against Joby.
The separate disputes come as Joby, Archer and other companies compete to develop and commercialise electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft for passenger and urban air-taxi operations. The sector has increasingly faced intellectual-property and trade-secret disputes as manufacturers develop competing aircraft, propulsion systems and supporting technologies.
