Tesla’s Patent Wall before June 12
Currently, Tesla Motors holds over 600 patents, each one granting them exclusive license to profit off of each one or at least the ability to initiate lawsuits against others who use the patent. However, on June 12, 2014, Tesla announced that they would no longer file lawsuits against anyone who uses their technology. This announcement was based on Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk’s belief that innovation should be encouraged and the best way to fuel innovation is to open up new technologies and ideas to as many people as possible. More specifically, Musk hopes for increased research and production on electric vehicles as, “electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that doesn’t burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent” and which increasing the number of electric cars produced in the market. Of course, this change in policy helps Tesla as well. By allowing other companies to use Tesla’s technology, it opens up Tesla’s infrastructure of superchargers to a larger market, making the company more money. Overall, Tesla departed from typical patent policies by opening their patents up to other companies. This serves as an experiment to see if open-source technology can in fact lead to increased innovation in the electric car market.
Tesla’s Patent Wall after June 12
Works Cited: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/result.html?p=1&sort=relevance&srch=top&query_txt=an%2F%22tesla+motors%22&patents=on http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/07/17/rethinking-patent-enforcement-tesla-did-what/ http://gas2.org/2014/06/23/the-tesla-patent-wall-before-and-after/
