In June, 2014, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, announced that Tesla was opening up its patents for the company's competitors to use. In a revolutionary blog post entitled "All Our Patent Are Belong to You," Musk explained that Tesla's patents would now become open source and that the company would not pursue legal remedies against anyone who took advantage of this. Many began immediately to speculate as to the reasons for this move.
In the highly competitive automotive industry, patents are vital intellectual property that allow companies to offer unique and desirable products. For Tesla Motors to follow the course used by open-source software developers was shocking. Most major companies avoid dealing with open-source software because they do not want to aid their competitors and out of fear of potential lawsuits.
Tesla's move to open its patents was not quite as altruistic or foolhardy as it might appear at first glance, however. Tesla will indeed continue to file patents on new inventions and expects to strike agreements with other companies using its patents. What looks like a rash move may actually be a carefully thought-out plan to cement the dominance of Tesla Motors in the electric car marketplace.
Tesla Motors is in the process of growing its nationwide network of Supercharger stations, which allow Tesla owners to recharge their cars' batteries at high speeds. The company has also announced plans to build an enormous zero-emission battery factory. If other companies take advantage of the patents, they will build cars that are compatible with the Supercharger system and use Tesla's batteries. This type of standardization is vital for a growing industry because it allows consumers to make substantial purchases with the confidence that they will be able to find customer support and maintenance when needed.
Musk hopes that the Tesla Motors patent announcement will encourage other manufacturers to move more vigorously into the all-electric car market. Musk believes passionately in the need for and future of the electric car, but realizes that cooperation and partnerships between companies is needed to make this future a reality. If other companies join in to expand the charging network, for instance, electric cars are likely to become even more in demand. As an encouraging sign, BMW and Nissan both contacted Tesla Motors to discuss possibilities for cooperation within days of Musk's announcement.
The outstanding consumer and safety scores the Tesla Model S has received are evidence that Tesla is indeed producing a product that other car manufacturers would do well to emulate. Consumers can feel confident that cars produced by other manufacturers using Tesla's patents will be reliable purchases. If the electric car market expands as Tesla Motors hopes it will as a result, opening up the company's patents could turn out to be a prescient move.
Photo courtesy of ponsulak at freedigitalphotos.net
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