Tesla Motors opens all it's patents for good faith use

[csnarpy]

It's a great move by Tesla and very smart. If anything, the demand of their designs will increase, thus effecting the cost, which in turn should be less and then, hopefully, the consumers will benefit.

I really want one but they are 20 grand out of my range... Dammit.

[SportsJunky]

Do you know Elon Musk? He should be the most famous person in the world. He f------ colonized Mars! It's amazing that he can walk down the street unknown. I guess because we know the Kardashians, it's come to the point where actual people are boring.

- Norm MacDonald

[handgroen]

Originally Posted by Muta

What an absolutely noble thing to do. Didn't think my respect level for Musk could get any higher, and boy was I wrong.

This man is a new-age businessman, and I hope his actions catalyze other like-minded entrepreneurs into action that benefits the human race, as a whole, in the future.

Oil companies will hate this move, that's for sure.

oil companies hate this guy!
jealous trainers rip him off!
fat people want him dead!
one weird old trick!

[SeeGeeWhy]

Haha, love the line about patents being a lottery ticket for lawsuits. Totally true!

So... this is their IP. And I know that there are a bunch of other "open ware" platforms out there, but I would suggest that the true guts are still not disclosed (fabrication methods, etc)... I am reminded of that bad ass 3D CAD modelling software that they developed in house that works exactly like Jarvis on Iron Man - they create and manipulate models with hand gestures and touching screens! Did that kind of tool get released for free? Doubtful... there are ways to retain your true advantages without going down the patent road.

I agree with posters that this is a move to encourage their standards to be widely adopted and accelerate market penetration of their alternative.

Also, and I am not sure why I haven't thought of this before... but if Tesla releases these details... and it's not filed as a patent... what is preventing some assclown patent troll from taking this to the USPTO and filing a patent on it, and then going after everyone who is using it?

Originally Posted by Muta

Oil companies will hate this move, that's for sure.

Why?

They'll need someone to burn all of the excess natural gas that's being produced by the "fracking revolution" and the Obama administration has completely set the table to replace the majority of US grid electricity with natural gas fired plants instead of coal. Increasing electrical demand will completely increase natural gas demand - a very good thing for oil companies in North America as we have several gassy basins, and not enough consumption.

US liquids demand has been quite flat and declining for some time now... and projected to continue. "Mautre economy" effect (read: outsourcing economy). Still plenty of demand for liquids coming from everywhere else OECD countries have pushed the production to meet consumption to.

Take a look at BP's 2014 energy outlook. Most of the growth in energy demand comes from power generation and industrial demands, not transportation fuel needs. Slides 10 shows pretty clearly how industrialization is driving energy demand growth... and slide 16 shows very clearly how there is a massive decline in expected coal and oil consumption with a marked increase in dry gas consumption (and the joke of it all) a HUGE gain in renewables.

[photon]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

I agree with posters that this is a move to encourage their standards to be widely adopted and accelerate market penetration of their alternative.

Pretty much I think, though I don't think that the importance of that could be overstated. Think of media in the home and how every company wants a walled garden to ensure their hardware gets purchased instead of someone else's. Now imagine if the standards were open so stuff could talk to each other. Faster innovation, better for customers, though I guess one could argue possible less incentive for companies to innovate.

But imagine if getting gasoline into a car was invented now. 10 different ports and marketing alliances between car companies and gas stations.. buy a Ford, you can only get gas at Esso.

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Also, and I am not sure why I haven't thought of this before... but if Tesla releases these details... and it's not filed as a patent... what is preventing some assclown patent troll from taking this to the USPTO and filing a patent on it, and then going after everyone who is using it?

I think they've already got the patents but are just committing to opening them. "Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology."

And if they didn't have the patents, you can't patent something that already exists in the public, that's called prior art, and if there's prior art for something, it can't be patented (well in the US anyway, there might be places that don't recognize prior art).

[SeeGeeWhy]

Totally agree, it is a very good move.

Thanks for the clarification on the prior art and the fact that they are indeed patented.

It's no small cost to get a patent in the first place, but as he describes it... it's a high priced ticket to the ability to get into an every higher priced lawsuit when someone inevitably violates your designs. What a crap system.

[pylon]

Personally I already would qualify it as one, but many years from now, this will be regarded as an incredible act of philanthropy. We are talking billions of dollars Musk just took a waiver on, for the greater good of mankind. This will speed up the development of electric cars for some manufacturers by decades.

This move, could very well could be one of the big game changers on the automotive playing field. As a guy that works in this business, the wide scale adoption of electric cars cannot come soon enough.

I guess not all billionaires want to sit in their floating lair, watching the world burn.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Why?

They'll need someone to burn all of the excess natural gas that's being produced by the "fracking revolution" and the Obama administration has completely set the table to replace the majority of US grid electricity with natural gas fired plants instead of coal. Increasing electrical demand will completely increase natural gas demand - a very good thing for oil companies in North America as we have several gassy basins, and not enough consumption.

US liquids demand has been quite flat and declining for some time now... and projected to continue. "Mautre economy" effect (read: outsourcing economy). Still plenty of demand for liquids coming from everywhere else OECD countries have pushed the production to meet consumption to.

Take a look at BP's 2014 energy outlook. Most of the growth in energy demand comes from power generation and industrial demands, not transportation fuel needs. Slides 10 shows pretty clearly how industrialization is driving energy demand growth... and slide 16 shows very clearly how there is a massive decline in expected coal and oil consumption with a marked increase in dry gas consumption (and the joke of it all) a HUGE gain in renewables.

Cool, but I meant for refinement into gasoline. More electric cars on the road mean less retail sales of gas. I'm sure, as you've stated, there's other areas of opportunity for said companies.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by Muta

Cool, but I meant for refinement into gasoline. More electric cars on the road mean less retail sales of gas. I'm sure, as you've stated, there's other areas of opportunity for said companies.

The margins on midsteam, and downstream operations are pretty slim compared to production.
Being able to shift focus away from refinement and retail, may very well be an attractive option for some compaines.

[loob job]

Both my bosses just ordered one of these bad boys.

[chrishenry]

As soon as they make this car cheaper, it will take over. I like the fact that they're trying to be game changes, not just profit takers.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by chrishenry

As soon as they make this car cheaper, it will take over. I like the fact that they're trying to be game changes, not just profit takers.

For what you get out of the Tesla vehichles, I think they are already very solid value.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by pylon

Personally I already would qualify it as one, but many years from now, this will be regarded as an incredible act of philanthropy. We are talking billions of dollars Musk just took a waiver on, for the greater good of mankind. This will speed up the development of electric cars for some manufacturers by decades.

This move, could very well could be one of the big game changers on the automotive playing field. As a guy that works in this business, the wide scale adoption of electric cars cannot come soon enough.

I guess not all billionaires want to sit in their floating lair, watching the world burn.

[pylon]

I really am unsure of what you are aiming for by posting that Vulcan. But Elon Musk is a role model in every sense of the word. He is innovating in areas that are going to push humanity forward. Between Tesla and SpaceX even if he did hoard every nickel of profit, he is still one of the leading innovators on the face of the earth. He is shaming frikkin NASA with his little private space company right now. He without a doubt is worthy of being a billionaire.

[Muta]

I actually don't think money is Musk's highest priority. I think he visualizes the world fifty years in the future and his personal goal is to build the way to get there. And that's what really excites and motivates him. He has higher objectives.

I'm with pylon, this act of incredible philanthropy will be looked back upon one day as a changing moment in the way each run our lives.

[Lanny's Stache]

^ If Elson Musk hoarded cash, he wouldn't be giving away these patents. He would continue to employ lawyers to fight endlessly for them. He wouldn't employ factory workers to build the cars in the USA, he would outsource everything offshore. He wouldn't be looking at investing even more money in building a battery plant in the USA. Again, he could easily outsource at cheaper costs.
I do think that opening up these patents is a shrewd business move to bring others up towards Tesla's level and increase the innovation industry wide. His company is still very small compared to the R&D that is possible at the majors. It should be interesting to see how they use this information.

[Coach]

I think Vulcan posted it in support of your point pylon.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by pylon

I really am unsure of what you are aiming for by posting that Vulcan. But Elon Musk is a role model in every sense of the word. He is innovating in areas that are going to push humanity forward. Between Tesla and SpaceX even if he did hoard every nickel of profit, he is still one of the leading innovators on the face of the earth. He is shaming frikkin NASA with his little private space company right now. He without a doubt is worthy of being a billionaire.

Yeah, I wasn't directing that at Musk at all. He's one of the good guys. It was in support of your opinion.

[Titan]

Just saw a tesla in Mckenzie Towne of all places.

[badradio]

Originally Posted by Muta

I actually don't think money is Musk's highest priority. I think he visualizes the world fifty years in the future and his personal goal is to build the way to get there. And that's what really excites and motivates him. He has higher objectives.

I'm with pylon, this act of incredible philanthropy will be looked back upon one day as a changing moment in the way each run our lives.

Not bad for a guy that lived in Swift Current!