A US district judge has reversed a jury verdict that had ordered Boeing to pay $72m to an electric plane start-up for trade secret theft, finding that “Boeing has prevailed on all claims in this matter”.

District judge at the Western District of Washington at Seattle, James L Robart, ruled on 14 August that the court agreed with Boeing that start-up Zunum Aero failed to identify any of its alleged trade secrets with “sufficient particularity” or prove by substantial evidence that its alleged trade secrets “derived value from not being generally known to or readily ascertainable by others”.

The judge noted that having offered only “vague and amorphous descriptions” of its alleged trade secrets throughout trial, Zunum fell well short of providing the “specific, concrete examples” the jury needed to determine whether the alleged trade secrets were in fact trade secrets.

The relationship between the two parties dates back to 2016, when Boeing agreed to invest in Zunam, whose founders strived to be “the Tesla of commercial aviation”. They had a proprietary information agreement (PIA) where they shared confidential information, Boeing lent the company $9m between 2017 and 2018, with the relationship governed by an investment rights letter (IRL).

By October 2018, however Zunum was out of runway, and Boeing was unwilling to invest more. Zunum then alleged that “Boeing stole Zunum’s technology and disclosed it to Boeing’s partners to accelerate Boeing’s own roadmaps by two decades, while intentionally hobbling Zunum”.

A trial took place in May 2024, where the jury awarded $72m to Zunum in what Robart called an “electrifying win” for the start-up. 

Now, although Robart concludes that substantial evidence supports a finding that Zunum shared confidential information governed by the 2017 IRL with Boeing, the court agrees with Boeing that Zunum failed to provide substantial evidence that its use of any such information was unauthorised or that Boeing’s alleged breach injured Zunum.

The court has vacated its prior judgment and will enter judgment in Boeing’s favour.

Commenting on the decision, a Boeing spokesperson said: “We are grateful for the court’s careful and thorough consideration of all the evidence at trial to reach this decision.”