A federal jury in Seattle says Boeing owes an unsuccessful electric-aviation startup called Zunum Aero $72 million for misappropriating trade secrets and interfering with its business plans.
Some of that amount could be tripled if the judge determines that the misappropriation was willful and malicious.
“Zunum Aero’s founders and other shareholders are pleased that the company had the opportunity to prove its case, and that the jury agreed,” Scott Danner of the law firm Holwell Shuster & Goldberg, lead counsel for Zunum, said in a statement. “After years of fighting, the jury’s verdict is a tremendous vindication.”
Boeing said it would challenge the judgment. “Boeing respectfully disagrees with the jury’s verdict, which is not supported by the law or the facts,” the company said.
