Small-Timer Gets a Win in Court, but the Battles Are Far From Over

A lawsuit against Boeing from shuttered electric aircraft startup Zunum went against the big manufacturer, with the jury awarding the little upstart $81 million in damages.

Zunum had pressed the case saying that Boeing's investment during a seed round was actually a covert technology transfer, allowing the big dog to snatch its nascent technology and beat the smaller company to market. Zunum was working on a hybrid aircraft to tackle the small regional jet market, anticipating a shift in the travel market. The jury believed its case that Boeing's actions were "willful and malicious", which opens the door for even more damages to be awarded. They believed Zunum's story that Boeing interfered with its prospective relationships with United Technologies and Safran, as well as carried out a premeditated data gathering effort to gain their business plan, technological analysis, trade secrets, and other proprietary information.

Boeing has a less dramatic take on it, admitting to making a concept mock-up of something like Zuni's planned aircraft just to see whether it was feasible to begin with. As for the marketing and technical info, they don't feel that they needed any of it to begin with, and their support for Zunum was just a kindly investment in a little guy that might add something fresh to an established industry. Boeing lost money on the investment, it should be remembered, and it's hard to say they've put any of the supposedly plundered data to use when they haven't come out with anything resembling Zunum's entirely conceptual renderings of fantasy aircraft.

Currently, the company is on ice, having "paused most development activities pending recapitalization of the company." Zunum got a Clean Energy matching grant in 2017, of which the firm only ever drew a third, but they supposedly kept all hardware, tools, and infrastructure in leased facilities in that state and Indiana. It's unknown if the finding will be a shot in the arm for the company, but $81 million might just be enough to get the gears unstuck again. Then again, the judge overseeing the case has leeway to even triple the award, which could ultimately result in a total award of $72 million or $235 million, depending. That leaves out the inevitable timetable of appeals, too, since Boeing's lawyers don't seem too keen on taking the loss and going home.

FMI: www.zunum.aero