Joby Aviation faces a jury award of approximately $116.9 million after a federal court in Tampa, Florida, found the eVTOL manufacturer breached a confidentiality agreement and misappropriated trade secrets belonging to aviation supplier Aerosonic. The dispute concerns air-data probes used on Joby’s flight-test aircraft, with the verdict potentially creating a significant financial liability for the electric-air-taxi developer.
The jury’s 2 October verdict awarded Aerosonic about $68.6 million for the nondisclosure-agreement breach, $29.9 million for trade-secret misappropriation and $18.3 million in exemplary damages. Jurors characterised the misappropriation as willful and malicious and rejected Joby’s counterclaims that Aerosonic had breached the agreement and supplied defective probes.
Clearwater-based Aerosonic, a subsidiary of TransDigm, supplies probes that measure air pressure around an aircraft. Their data supports flight-computer calculations including airspeed, altitude and angle of attack. The companies signed a nondisclosure agreement in 2021, and Aerosonic began supplying probes to Joby for flight testing in 2022.
Aerosonic alleged that Joby used its proprietary designs and test data to develop its own probes in roughly two years, rather than the decade it said independent development would have required. Joby denied wrongdoing and maintains that its air-data system resulted from years of independent engineering and manufacturing work. The company has asked the court to overturn the verdict and plans to pursue post-trial and appellate remedies. The award is not yet a final judgment.