{"id":4712,"date":"2014-06-16T07:00:34","date_gmt":"2014-06-16T15:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/?p=4712"},"modified":"2014-06-13T09:57:25","modified_gmt":"2014-06-13T17:57:25","slug":"open-sourcing-patents-opening-up-automotive-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/open-sourcing-patents-opening-up-automotive-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Source Patents: Opening Up Automotive Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week Tesla announced that it will open source its entire portfolio of electric vehicle patents. \u00a0 It promised\u00a0not to initiate patent lawsuits against anyone using their technology “in good faith.” \u00a0By opening up the technology, Musk hopes to jump-start growth in the electronic vehicle industry. \u00a0It also will make it easier for Tesla to build partnerships and alliances with other companies. \u00a0Tesla, for example, has talked with BMW<\/a> about partnering to build recharging stations and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Elon Musk<\/a>, entrepreneur and inventor and CEO\/CTO of Tesla,\u00a0wrote that<\/a>\u00a0“our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world’s factories every day. We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform. \u00a0We believe that applying the open source philosophy to our patents will strengthen rather than diminish Tesla’s position in this regard.”<\/p>\n

Musk said that “we felt compelled to create patents out of concern that the big car companies would copy our technology and then use their massive manufacturing, sales and marketing power to overwhelm Tesla. We couldn\u2019t have been more wrong. The unfortunate reality is the opposite: electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that doesn\u2019t burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an average of far less than 1% of their total vehicle sales.\u00a0”<\/p>\n

Will Oremus<\/a>, reporter at Slate, wrote that “the obstacles to Tesla\u2019s success aren\u2019t the Nissan Leaf and the BMW i3\u2014they\u2019re the constraints of technology, cost, infrastructure, and customer expectations. The more money is put into electric batteries, the cheaper and more powerful they\u2019ll become. ”<\/p>\n

R. Polk Wagner<\/a>, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, said that “it is important to understand that, in many ways, patents are a tradeoff. \u00a0Just because you have patents doesn\u2019t mean you get anything out of them, necessarily.”<\/p>\n

Aaron Levie<\/a>, \u00a0CEO of file-storing company Box, said that<\/a>\u00a0“by opening its patents, Tesla rightly realises it’s better to be the best product in a large industry than the only product in a niche one,” observed Silicon Valley entrepreneur Inc.<\/p>\n

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Last week Tesla announced that it will open source its entire portfolio of electric vehicle patents. \u00a0 It promised\u00a0not to initiate patent lawsuits against anyone using their technology “in good faith.” \u00a0By opening up the technology, Musk hopes to jump-start…<\/span><\/p>\n

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