t.o.c.
Tesla goes Open Source
29.06.2014
, Christoph Gatterbauer

On June 12th, Tesla stated they would not seek lawsuits against competitors using their patents, effectively “open sourcing” patents, especially those concerning the charging technology. See www.teslamotors.com for detailed information.

While colored as an altruistic move by Elon Musk by many, this decision is also a smart business decision for Tesla at this point: Their competitors dwarf them in terms of patent portfolio, so any cross licensing deal would be expensive for Tesla.

This move however creates some goodwill on one hand, and security on the other, either of which may be the tipping factor leading others to adopt Teslas charging technology.