Infighting, court battles could put long-hyped air taxi breakthrough in jeopardy

Air taxi makers have hyped science fiction-like flying cars for years. But as that dream inches closer to reality, legal squabbles are clouding that momentum. Last year, Joby Aviation sued Archer , accusing the rival air taxi maker of "corporate espionage" and using stolen information to interfere with a real estate developer deal. Weeks later, Archer clapped back, alleging that Joby hid ties to China and embarked on a "calculated, years-long scheme" to defraud the U.S. government. The plan, Archer claimed, included classifying China aircraft parts as consumer goods such as "hair clips" and "socks." Simultaneously, another battle was brewing. Archer hit Vertical Aerospace with a patent infringement suit, claiming the British air taxi maker ripped off its Midnight aircraft. Vertical called the lawsuit "without merit" and said it "will defend those claims vigorously" in a statement to CNBC. Both cases are working their way through the courts. "Investors are going to look at things going awry, the resources that are being spent on those lawsuits, and they're going to turn away from the sector," Beta Technologies CEO Kyle Clark told CNBC in an interview. "If Joby, Archer, Vertical and Eve go down, we're going to go down with them." So far this year, investors seem less than impressed with the makers of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, known as eVTOLs for short. Archer is down 9% and has lost more than a third of its value over the last year. …