Why Elon Musk Is Releasing All Tesla Patents: Climate Change

The billionaire CEO will no longer initiate patent lawsuits over "good faith" uses of his technology.

Elon Musk
Elon Musk (Getty Images)

In an effort to combat global climate change, Elon Musk announced on Thursday that he had released all of Tesla’s patents. The electric car company billionaire wants to help save the world.

A blog posted to the company website by Musk said Tesla “will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.”

“Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport,” Musk said in the blog post. “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.”

Musk had earlier felt compelled to file patents to protect the technology from giant car companies who sought to make copies, NDTV reports.

“We couldn’t have been more wrong,” the billionaire said now. “The unfortunate reality is the opposite,” he said, noting that clean fuel or electric cars “at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent.”

This move is born out of a realization that Tesla can’t compete at the same scale with manufacturers like GM or Ford: “It is impossible for Tesla to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis,” Musk said. So releasing the patents is a start to getting more clean cars on the road as quickly as possible.

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