Elon Musk to Other Carmakers: Steal our Technology

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Elon Musk, co-founder, chief executive and product architect of Tesla Motors, poses at the premiere of the documentary film "Revenge of the Electric Car," Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, at Tesla Motors in Los Angeles. The film is director Chris Paine's follow-up to his 2006 documentary, "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

Image: Chris Pizzello/Associated Press

By Jason Abbruzzese2014-06-12 17:30:21 UTC

Want to start your own electric car company? You now have the technology to do so.

Tesla has made the unorthodox move of pledging not to pursue litigation against any company that uses its technology "in good faith."

In a blog post cheekily titled "All Our Patent Are Belong To You," Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk wrote that the company has pledged not to take action against any company that uses its patents.

See also: Tesla Model S Is Top Car of 2014, 'Consumer Reports' Says

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

While Musk has said he hopes to shift the world away from combustion engines, he also admitted that Tesla will not be able to do it alone.

"Our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world’s factories every day," he wrote.

There is also a business case for Tesla's move. Musk recently said that Tesla was considering allowing other companies to use its patents for charging stations. More charging stations for Tesla cars would mean greater appeal for the cars.

Patent technology is a valuable asset for any company that is seeking to disrupt a particular industry. Litigation related to patents often end up costing companies millions of dollars and are seen by some as stifling innovation. Some companies have emerged that almost entirely depend on patent lawsuit settlements for income.

Musk wrote that a patent is "a lottery ticket to a lawsuit," and that to achieve the company's ultimate goals, it needed to allow others to build on its technology.

"Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. 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," he wrote.

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Topics: Tech