Elon Musk is making headlines again, this time for speaking out against patents and making Tesla’s electric car technology available to everyone, even the automobile company’s competitors.
Musk believes the current patent system limits innovation and with such a limited landscape in the electric automobile industry right now, Tesla Motors decided to spur innovation by releasing its patented technology.
“Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport,” Musk said. “If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal.”
Tesla no longer considers other companies’ electric vehicles competition because so many gas vehicles are still being shipped, something Musk would like to stifle.
Accelerating the growth of the electric car industry will be huge for Tesla, a major reason they decided to share all their secrets. The company’s new found stance in patents marks yet another company embracing the open source movement.
In fact, Musk writes, “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’t have been more wrong.”
