If you’ve ever wanted to build your own electric car, Tesla Motors’ CEO Elon Musk just gave you the blueprint and wants you to go ahead and do it.
In an astonishing move, Musk announced on the Tesla website that he was open-sourcing the technology patents used in his designs and wrote “Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.” In other words, take the technology, tweak it and make it better.
A major manufacture – automobile or otherwise – telling the public to please use their technology without threat of lawsuit is almost unheard of. Typically, automakers like Ford and Honda guard their patents from each other (and the public) behind hundreds of lawyers. The conventional thinking is that once your competitor has your technology, they can use it against you and profits would plummet. Musk doesn’t see it that way.
In an astonishing move, Musk announced on the Tesla website that he was open-sourcing the technology patents used in his designs and wrote “Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.” In other words, take the technology, tweak it and make it better.
A major manufacture – automobile or otherwise – telling the public to please use their technology without threat of lawsuit is almost unheard of. Typically, automakers like Ford and Honda guard their patents from each other (and the public) behind hundreds of lawyers. The conventional thinking is that once your competitor has your technology, they can use it against you and profits would plummet. Musk doesn’t see it that way.
“We think the market is plenty big enough for everyone,” Musk writes. “If we can do things that don’t hurt us and help the U.S. industry, we should do that.”
Musk doesn’t see other electric cars being much of a threat any time soon – the market accounts for less than 1% of all vehicles sold in the U.S. – but it’s a gambit which may help start putting the squeeze on gasoline-powered competitors.