Elon Musk Releases All Of Tesla Motors’ Patents

[alansplace]

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk released all of the leading electric car manufacturer’s patented technology for open use Thursday, and said no company will be penalized for copying products in an effort to further the electric auto frontier.

The entrepreneur made the announcement in a blog post on Tesla’s website.

Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology.

[QuantumIguana]

With BMW and Cadillac having electric cars, they seem to be going mainstream. Someday, NASCAR may be full of electric cars. Of course, the cars silently driving down the track might be unsatisfying...

[jhowell]

Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.

I notice that they are not giving up the patents or promising not to sue. Their interpretation of "good faith" leaves a lot of leeway.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I notice that they are not giving up the patents or promising not to sue. Their interpretation of "good faith" leaves a lot of leeway.

Once granted, is there actually any sort of legal procedure to that can be followed for "giving up" a patent (short of letting it expire, of course)? Or is the good faith, "here's our stuff--use it as you will" the only recourse to accomplish what Musk was seeking to achieve with their current patents?

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Once granted, is there actually any sort of legal procedure to that can be followed for "giving up" a patent (short of letting it expire, of course)? Or is the good faith, "here's our stuff--use it as you will" the only recourse to accomplish what Musk was seeking to achieve with their current patents?

You could release it into the public domain, just like you could with a copyright. This looks analogous to freeware - still under patent, but you can use it. I'm not sure what would constitute using it in bad faith, a lawyer might know that.

[arjaybe]

Keeping control of the patents means that others can't use them for nefarious ends. Tesla will also be patenting all their future inventions for the same purpose.

[theducks]

This seem similar to what happened with some books in the Baen Free Library. They were FREE to download with only 1 restriction: Not to be resold.

The copyright was retained and the Free books were later removed to comply with demands from e-book retailers that now want to sell those Baen titles.