Tesla opens patents to rivals

[Bob Of Burleson]

Why Elon Musk Just Opened
Tesla's Patents
to His Biggest Rivals

By Ashlee Vance
BusinessWeek.vcom

Annoyed, frustrated and exasperated, Elon Musk has decided to give Tesla Motors’ (TSLA) patents away.

Well, “give away” might be too dramatic. But on Thursday, Musk did announce that Tesla will let other companies use its inventions under an open-source-inspired agenda at the company. Here’s how Musk put it in a blog post: ”Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.”

This move looks drastic at first blush. Tesla has hundreds of approved patents—and many additional ones pending—for all manner of spectacular inventions tied to electric-vehicle technology. Tesla pioneered innovations that lowered the cost and increased the safety of battery packs. Its cars recharge much faster than others on the market, thanks to connector, software, and power-management advances. Now this public company will offer these smarts up to its rivals and ask nothing but goodwill in return.

According to Musk, Tesla made this gesture to—once again—try to nudge the rest of the automotive market along. Tesla’s Model S has proved that there’s massive interest in a well-made, fun-to-drive electric car. Still, Tesla is barely making a dent in the massive auto market. Musk wants to promote a more dramatic shift toward electric cars, so he will do what he can to accelerate things. “I don’t think people quite appreciate the gravity of what is going on [with regard to global warming] or just how much inertia the climate has,” Musk said during a conference call. “We really need to do something. It would be shortsighted if we try to hold these things close to our vest.”

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