The U.S. International Trade Commission instituted Investigation No. 337-TA-1499 on April 9, 2026, targeting imports of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, power systems, and components including battery cells and battery packs. Archer Aviation Inc. of San Jose, California filed the underlying complaint on March 10, 2026, under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1337), alleging patent infringement by named respondents Joby Aero, Inc. and Joby Aviation, Inc., both based in Santa Cruz, California.
The complaint puts five U.S. patents at the center of the dispute: Patent Nos. 11,945,594; 12,162,614; 8,469,306; 12,103,404; and 12,472,087. The ITC's scope order identifies specific claims under investigation across all five patents, including claims 1, 6-16, and 22-30 of the '594 patent and claims 1-15 and 17-30 of the '087 patent. Archer Aviation is seeking both a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders against the accused products.
Products in Scope: The ITC's plain language description defines accused products as "electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, including hybrid eVTOL aircraft, power systems for eVTOL aircraft, and components thereof, including battery cells and/or battery packs."
For compliance engineering teams, this investigation creates immediate classification and screening challenges. Electric aircraft and their specialized components span multiple HTS chapters, and a limited exclusion order—if issued—would require systems to flag shipments matching the product description regardless of the underlying tariff classification. The hybrid nature of eVTOL aircraft further complicates matters, as power system components may enter under codes covering electric motors, lithium-ion batteries, or aircraft parts depending on how they're classified at import.
Compliance Alert: Section 337 exclusion orders are enforced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the port of entry. Unlike antidumping or countervailing duty orders tied to specific HTS codes, these orders target products by description and patent claims, requiring compliance teams to monitor ITC proceedings independently of tariff schedule updates.
The timing matters for any organization with eVTOL supply chains touching U.S. borders. ITC Section 337 investigations typically conclude within 12-18 months, meaning exclusion orders could be in effect by late 2027. Compliance systems that rely solely on HTS code-based rate lookups will miss these patent-based import restrictions entirely. Teams need to build supplemental screening logic that cross-references product descriptions against active ITC orders—a data layer that most tariff APIs don't provide.
The investigation also names the Office of Unfair Import Investigations as a party, signaling that ITC staff attorneys will participate actively in the proceedings. Archer Aviation's complaint, supplemented on March 19, 2026, asserts that a domestic industry exists as required under 19 U.S.C. 1337(a)(2)—a prerequisite for any exclusion order. The Commission's electronic docket (EDIS) at edis.usitc.gov contains the non-confidential portions of all filings.
For trade compliance platforms serving the emerging air mobility sector, Investigation 337-TA-1499 is a test case. The eVTOL market is nascent, but exclusion orders established now will shape import procedures for years. Engineering teams should begin flagging HTS codes commonly associated with aircraft electrical systems (Chapter 85) and aircraft parts (Chapter 88) for manual review when shipments originate from or are associated with named respondents.