Urban Aeronautics, Ltd. (UAL), an Israeli VTOL aircraft developer, sued Archer Aviation, Inc. for patent infringement on June 19, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. The docket carries case number 5:26-cv-06140 and is recorded as nature of suit 830 (patent), with the cause listed as patent infringement under Title 35.

According to the complaint, UAL brings the action under 35 U.S.C. §§ 271, 281, 283, 284, and 285 for infringement of one or more claims of U.S. Patent 7,946,528, titled “Flight Control System Especially Suited for VTOL Vehicles.” The complaint states UAL owns the ’528 patent by assignment.

The complaint identifies the accused products as Archer's electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft, naming “the model known as the Archer Maker and the Archer Midnight.” It alleges that making, using, offering to sell, and selling those aircraft are acts of direct infringement, and that Archer's inducement of customers to use the aircraft is induced infringement.

UAL brings this action against Archer pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §101 et. seq. and §§271, 281, 283, 284, & 285 inclusive, for infringement of one or more claims of U.S. Patent 7,946,528 entitled “Flight Control System Especially Suited for VTOL Vehicles.”

The complaint describes the asserted claims as directed to “[a]n aircraft flight control system” using plural control subsystems with redundancies, reciting components such as a plurality of flight-control actuators and flight-state sensors tied to flight conditions including altitude, intended to maintain controllability if a subsystem fails. The pleading sets out independent claim 1 and references claims 10 through 18.

On the question of notice, the complaint alleges Archer “has been made aware of the ’528 Patent at least as early as July 27, 2025 and continues to infringe.” UAL describes itself as a long-time VTOL developer, citing earlier X-Hawk/City Hawk flight history.

The docket lists Urban Aeronautics, Ltd. as plaintiff and Archer Aviation, Inc. as defendant. The complaint was signed by Benjamin C. Deming of DNL Zito as counsel for the plaintiff. The publicly available docket metadata at the time of filing does not list an assigned judge in the RECAP record.

This article reports only what the docket and the filed complaint state. The complaint is an allegation; no answer or other responsive pleading from Archer appears on the mirror as of this writing, and infringement has not been adjudicated. The full docket and the complaint are available through CourtListener's RECAP archive.