Joby Aviation has asked a federal court to overturn a nearly $117 million jury award to Aerosonic, saying it developed its own aircraft sensors without misusing the supplier’s trade secrets.
A jury in Tampa, Florida, found on October 2, 2026, that Joby breached a confidentiality agreement and misappropriated Aerosonic’s trade secrets. The verdict is not yet a final judgment.
Joby is building a electric air taxi for one pilot and four passengers and aims to begin passenger flights in Dubai before the end of 2026.
“We strongly disagree with the jury’s verdict, which we believe is unsupported by the evidence and inconsistent with the law,” Joby said in a statement to media outlets.
The electric air taxi developer said it spent years engineering and manufacturing its air data system and would pursue further court challenges, including an appeal if necessary.
Aerosonic makes probes that measure air pressure around an aircraft, providing data used to calculate airspeed, altitude and angle of attack. The Clearwater, Florida-based TransDigm subsidiary began supplying probes for Joby’s flight-test aircraft in April 2022, after the companies signed a nondisclosure agreement the previous September.
According to Aerosonic’s complaint, Joby asked to buy the intellectual property rights to the probes shortly after receiving its first delivery. Aerosonic declined.
The supplier alleged that Joby then began designing its own probes while continuing to ask Aerosonic for confidential engineering information. It sued Joby in March 2025 over the use of its designs and test data.
Aerosonic claimed its information allowed Joby to develop the probes in about two years, rather than the decade or more it said the work would otherwise have required. Joby maintains that it developed the system independently.
The jury awarded Aerosonic damages for the confidentiality agreement breach and misuse of trade secrets, along with additional punitive damages after finding the misappropriation was “willful and malicious.”
Jurors also rejected Joby’s counterclaims that Aerosonic had breached the agreement and sold it defective probes.