Tesla CEO Elon Musk is making waves in Silicon Valley by announcing his company aims to open up its entire patent portfolio in an effort to deliver transparency and support those interested in assisting in the growth of the electric car market.
The move has received media coverage and most tend to see the strategy as a positive for the tech world.
According to Musk, electric car technology innovation is moving at such a speed that the United States patent system can't keep up. In many ways, the effort to open patents to the general public should help reduce patent litigation as well as help to reform and speed up the application process as a whole.
In a blog post published by Musk, he announced Tesla "will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology."
The patent move includes the company's high-speed battery-charging technology.
"It will grow over time because we're not going to stop doing patents," Musk said. "We'll keep doing them and then put them into what is essentially an open source category."
Many view the move as a way of changing the culture of Silicon Valley and the tech sector, which has seen a number of high-profile patent cases leave the tech world frustrated over the lack of sharing between companies.
"What you're looking at here is the beginning of a new culture with regard to patents," says Julie Samuels, executive director at the public policy think tank and research outfit Engine. "A lot of companies in the high tech space are dismayed with how the system is shaping up, so they're trying to come up with creative ways to navigating around that system and get back to the business of innovating and creating."
Other companies, including Twitter, have opened their patent database on a limited basis, saying they would only litigate on a defensive footing. Tesla's move is an all-encompassing proposal that could do wonders for the electric car sector, which Tesla hopes will help drive down prices and increase user interest.
