While it’s unclear when regulators will ultimately certify eVTOLs for commercial service, UAM (Urban Air mobility) market saw the heat when Electric Flying taxi development company 'Archer Aviation' Counter-Sued 'Wisk Aero' for $1 billion in damages, accusing the later of doing malicious campaign against the Company.
Wisk Aero, that is backed by Boeing and Google co-founder Larry Page’s Kitty Hawk Corp., earlier filed with the U.S. District Court for Northern California , saying Archer aviation breached U.S. Patent and Trademark norms.
Wisk's lawsuit claimed that Archer perpetrated a “brazen theft” of confidential information and intellectual property. Wisk's lawsuit pointed to the design of Archer’s first electric aircraft that was released in February, which Wisk claimed is a copy of one of its potential designs.
That particular design was submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in January 2020, and Wisk alleges the similarities are too numerous to have been a coincidence.
According to Reuters, the two have been embroiled in litigation since earlier this year when Wisk accused Archer ,whose investors include United Airlines, of staeling trade secrets involving electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
Archer Countersued and said in a filing late Tuesday that it intends to “hold Wisk accountable for its false and malicious extra-judicial smear campaign that has caused substantial damage to Archer, likely to exceed $1 billion.”
Image - Archer aviation.
A Wisk spokesperson said: “Archer’s counterclaim is ludicrous and its troubles are purely self-inflicted.”
Archer plans to commercially launch its first electric flying taxi “Maker” in 2024, one of an increasing number of investors and aviation companies piling into the competitive but yet-to-be-approved urban air mobility space.
“Filing a lawsuit does not give Wisk a free pass to make false and damaging statements outside of the judicial process, and yet that is exactly what Wisk has been doing,” an Archer spokesperson said. He said Archer would continue to seek damages even if Wisk drops its claims.
Wisk, however, plans to pursue its case, its spokesperson said.
Wisk, the Mountain View-based air taxi spinoff from Larry Page's Kitty Hawk. Image - Wisk Aero.
Wisk’s initial lawsuit was filed in April, two months after Archer announced plans to go public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company Atlas Crest Investment Corp, led by investment banker Ken Moelis.
In a motion filed in mid-May seeking an injunction to stop Archer from developing an eVTOL, Wisk attorneys wrote:
“The similarities between the two companies’ designs could not have been a coincidence or the result of independent development by Archer.”
Current case revolves around the rapidly developing, but still unproven, world of eVTOLs. Multiple companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to build electric aircraft (eVTOLs) designed to carry passengers short distances.
Last month, Archer and sponsor Atlas slashed the pro forma enterprise value of the startup by $1 billion to $1.7 billion in a revised deal between the two companies.
Archer, which started in 2018, made a big splash in February announcing plans for a $3.8 billion merger with Atlas Crest Investment Corp., special purpose acquisition company.
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