Elon Musk confirms that patents are free for everyone

    In June 2014 Elon Musk, founder of Tesla Motors, the shareholders' meeting said that the company will give all corporate patents Tesla Motors public use.

    “Yesterday, in the lobby of the headquarters in Palo Alto, Tesla patents occupied the wall. They are no more. They were removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, to promote the technology of electric cars, ”Elon Musk wrote in a corporate blog .

    The only controversial issue in open patent policy was the phrase that Tesla Motors' intellectual property could be used for “good faith” purposes. This left some uncertainty: what if Tesla Motors chooses who can use patents and who not.

    Now Elon Musk has removed all doubts. He clarifiedThat patents are available to absolutely everyone without any restrictions.



    During the Detroit Auto Show, Elon Musk gave an interview to the press. Around the third minute on the video, a reporter asked how many car manufacturers took advantage of Tesla's offer.

    Musk answered that he could not know this:

    - In fact, we do not require any formal negotiations. So they can just take and use them.

    - Is there any licensing process? The reporter asked.

    - Not. You just use them. I think it’s better, because we don’t need to enter into negotiations and everything like that. So we don’t know. You will probably see in future car models if they decide to use them.


    Opening patents, Elon Musk explained the change of policy. Previously, the company sought to patent unique technologies in order to protect itself from competition from large automobile concerns. It was assumed that they, too, will begin to mass-produce electric cars. “We couldn't make a bigger mistake,” Musk admits. As reality has shown, concerns are generally not too interested in promoting this technology. Until now, hydrocarbon-powered vehicles account for 99% or more of the sales of any major concern.

    In other words, large companies are poorly receptive to real, revolutionary innovations. They are too focused on the usual business. Elon Musk realized that Tesla Motors business is threatened not so much by competition from other electric vehicles as by the lack of this competition, that is, too many gasoline cars coming off the assembly lines.

    It turns out that the opening of patents only expands the car market and, ultimately, is beneficial to the company itself.

    But not everyone agrees with this logic. Some representatives of Wall Street are completely unhappy that the company is scattered with intellectual property. For example, a representative of a certain investment company Technology Equity Strategies in a large articlesincerely outraged by the "irresponsible" behavior of Elon Mask. He says that patents are very important in modern high-tech industry, you need to hold on to them, make a profit. Like, a technology company is heavily dependent on the protection of its intellectual property, copyright and trade secrets. Without this, one cannot survive in fierce capitalist competition.

    Well, the future will show who was right. But indicative is the fact that Wall Street can only play a zero-sum game. In their opinion, there must be a winner (owner of intellectual property) and a loser (without a patent). In principle, they do not understand the logic of the Mask, according to which you need to help others to win yourself.

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