Tesla: All Our Patent Are Belong To You (hydrogen, cost, electric)
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Musk and Tesla had no choice. If you think this was some genuine concern for anything but money, think again.
Of course he had a choice, and the immediate effect was that it cost Tesla some money. Tesla was collecting royalties on patents that they had licensed to other manufacturers, particularly around their drivetrain and control technologies, in which they arguably have expertise that other companies want, as evidenced by the number of companies that have consulted with them.
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When was the last time you heard about Ford suing GM over patents? How about GM suing Chrylser? Mercedes suing Porsche? It doesn't happen in the car industry which is why cars have evolved as fast as they did. Tesla isn't doing anything here except learning what everyone else in the car industry already knew, just build a good car and carve out a customer base and sell cars.
Just because you haven't heard about patents and patent fights in the auto industry doesn't mean they didn't happen. It's just that few patent fights are really newsworthy. But every car manufactured today has a very long list of patents associated with it, and inventors and independent suppliers have had many legal battles with auto manufacturers over the 100+ years since Henry Ford successfully broke the Selden patents after an 8 year fight.
And there is at least one precedent that comes to mind for what Tesla just did... Volvo invented, and patented, the modern 2 strap, 3 point seat belt which is now standard all over the world. But they put the patent in the public domain in order to encourage other manufacturers to adopt it as a standard, and that's exactly what happened.
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If Musk wanted to really make a statement, then he could have started a hi-tech company, developed a bunch of IP and then put that out to open source. He didn't that though, he simply did what everyone else is already doing in major auto manufacturing.
Ummmm... that's exactly what he did... started a hi-tech car company, developed a bunch of IP, and now is putting it out to open-source. And no, that is NOT what everybody else in the auto industry is already doing.
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Almost all the major car makers source parts from the same 3rd party producers and often use parts that are built into models across manufacturer and model boundaries. So just what was Musk saying other than please welcome me to the club?
But those parts are often patent-protected by those 3rd party manufacturers, at least until their patents expire. If a company develops a groundbreaking new... say... wiper blade, using a novel geometry and material that simply out-performs everything else, and everybody wants it, of course they're going to patent it if possible, simply to protect themselves against knock-offs.
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No one in hi-tech really cared so that was a blast of nothing. No one in the car industry really cared either. PR gone badly. Musk was trying to become a defacto standard except he forgot one thing, everyone else is busy working on other projects and they'll all innovate and evolve the technology. Musk actually tried to stifle innovation by trying to say "here, use our patents for free". Uh, sorry, we can develop our own technologies was the response.
With no citations to back these claims of yours up, I'll file them under "fantasy." As a matter of fact, there are published reports that the exact opposite is true, like this one...
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Tesla's Clever Patent Move Is Already Paying Off
Tesla may already be reaping the rewards of freeing up its patents.
Four days after CEO Elon Musk offered most of his company’s patents to rivals in hopes of cultivating a bigger electric car market, Nissan and BMW are “keen on talks” to cooperate on charging networks, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
That pretty much validates why the Silicon Valley company freed up its patents in the first place: Tesla wants its superchargers to become the industry standard.
That way, other companies will use and enlarge Tesla's existing network of 97 charging stations that currently dot a path across the continental United States, making it more and more feasible to swap fuel-burning cars for battery-electric ones, even for long-distance travel.
I've I was a shareholder I'd be pissed. Tesla is going down anyways nothing but a spend thrfit company.
I'm always curious where haters get their contrarian opinions. Tesla is booming, their cars are highly rated (Consumers Union: Best car they've ever tested. Ever!), their customers love them, they can't build their cars fast enough at the moment to satisfy current demand, but some folks just can't see past share price, or some other "single point" evaluation.
Oh, and besides, there's recent news that's contrary to your view...
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Tesla Motors, Inc. Stock Jumps on News of Possible Charging Collaboration
Last week the response to Tesla's (NASDAQ: TSLA ) announcement that it would be opening up its patents to competitors who would use them "in good faith" was somewhat flat. Would helping competitors hurt or help Tesla? The market couldn't seem to make up its mind. But now, with more related news on the matter, the market seems to be getting enthusiastic about the bold move.
Earlier Model X Schedule Sends Tesla Motors, Inc. Stock Soaring
While a report this morning from Financial Times may have served to help boost Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA ) stock price a few percentage points, a story making rounds just hours later seems to have sent the stock through the roof. The stock ended the trading day up about 9%. The news comes straight from Tesla in the form of a production update on its next vehicle, the Model X.
Personally I find the long range trends and prospects and growth potential for a company to be infinitely more interesting than the day to day kneejerks of the stock market.
I think you're right. True visionaries are disruptive, and often do the unexpected.
I appreciate this article from the LA Times that gets into Musk's motivation in taking this bold step, and his keen desire to overhaul the patent process.
I think this move is multifaceted. One, he truly wants to see more companies enter this marketplace for a variety of reasons, but a big reason is that Tesla cannot do this alone. If someone can take what Tesla has done and improve upon it, that will lower Tesla's costs. It's a risky bet, because if Tesla can't still compete, then they'll be in trouble. But that's where the battery factories come in. They'll have a piece of this market no matter who is building the cars. I also think he's trying to wake up tech companies and others who have fallen down this black hole of spending a fortune on hoarding patents, sueing over patents, and buying patents for the revenue, rather than for the actual use of the ideas. I'm not so sure the changes to the patent world will come quickly, but it's a positive step nonetheless.
Musk and Tesla had no choice. If you think this was some genuine concern for anything but money, think again.
When was the last time you heard about Ford suing GM over patents? How about GM suing Chrylser? Mercedes suing Porsche?
It doesn't happen in the car industry which is why cars have evolved as fast as they did. Tesla isn't doing anything here except learning what everyone else in the car industry already knew, just build a good car and carve out a customer base and sell cars.
If Musk wanted to really make a statement, then he could have started a hi-tech company, developed a bunch of IP and then put that out to open source. He didn't that though, he simply did what everyone else is already doing in major auto manufacturing.
Almost all the major car makers source parts from the same 3rd party producers and often use parts that are built into models across manufacturer and model boundaries. So just what was Musk saying other than please welcome me to the club?
No one in hi-tech really cared so that was a blast of nothing. No one in the car industry really cared either. PR gone badly. Musk was trying to become a defacto standard except he forgot one thing, everyone else is busy working on other projects and they'll all innovate and evolve the technology.
Musk actually tried to stifle innovation by trying to say "here, use our patents for free". Uh, sorry, we can develop our own technologies was the response.
Of course there are some but not nearly as many in high tech which is where Musk's perspective comes from.
All gasoline fueled cars can use the same gasoline except for different grades. The battery is the gasoline so patents on the battery technology are practically worthless. Musk knows that which is why he is giving them up. There are no patents Tesla holds that are worth much other than right now. In just a few years, none of the technology used to make batteries is going to be useful, the technology is changing to quickly.
If electric cars were selling that well, Musk wouldn't give up any of the patents. The fact is that electric cars just aren't selling and even the Obama administration is set on allowing increasing oil production levels.
There are no patents held by Tesla that can stop other manufacturers from evolving electric car design. Basically, they can go around him if they want, they don't want to, there is no reason to and even the government could really care less. Electric cars are a short term gap solution for a niche part of the industry, nothing more.
All the major car makers are going after alternative fuels, not electric storage solutions. The efforts they are making is just fluff to say "look, me too!"
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