A US federal jury in Tampa, Florida, has found that Joby Aviation breached a mutual nondisclosure agreement (NDA) and willfully misappropriated trade secrets. The jury awarded Aerosonic—which supplied air data probes to Joby in 2022 following the signing of an NDA—about USD116 million. Aerosonic alleged that Joby used its trade secrets and proprietary information to design and build its own probes following the sale.
The jury awarded Aerosonic USD68.6 million for breach of the NDA, USD29.9 million for misappropriation of trade secrets, and USD18.3 million in exemplary damages.
This is unlikely to be the end of the matter, however. Urban Air Mobility News has asked Joby for a comment on the ruling and the next steps the company intends to take.
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(Image: Joby)