Autonomous Vehicle, Self-Driving Car, Electic Car? Are we talking about Tesla?
Exactly, Tesla is revolutionizing the whole EV Industry, promoting 'Green' & as Musk himself claims his commitment to benefiting Humanity.
On June 12, 2014, in support of the Open-Source movement, Tesla chief Elon Musk announced that it would not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use its technology.
"Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology."
Read More: Touching the heart "Open-Source": Linux, Arduino, Tesla, etc.
"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. Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology." wrote Musk in a company's blog post.
Tesla Patent Pledge
As mentioned, "Tesla was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport", the company said that this policy is intended to encourage the advancement of a common, rapidly-evolving platform for electric vehicles, thereby benefiting Tesla, other companies making electric vehicles, and the world.
How is Tesla implementing this policy?
Tesla irrevocably pledges that it will not initiate a lawsuit against any party for infringing a Tesla Patent through activity relating to electric vehicles or related equipment for so long as such party is acting in good faith.
'Key Terms' of the pledge
"Tesla Patents" means all patents owned now or in the future by Tesla (other than a patent owned jointly with a third party or any patent that Tesla later acquires that comes with an encumbrance that prevents it from being subject to this Pledge).
A party is "acting in good faith" for so long as such party and its related or affiliated companies have not:
asserted, helped others assert or had a financial stake in any assertion of (i) any patent or other intellectual property right against Tesla or (ii) any patent right against a third party for its use of technologies relating to electric vehicles or related equipment;
challenged, helped others challenge, or had a financial stake in any challenge to any Tesla patent; or
marketed or sold any knock-off product (e.g., a product created by imitating or copying the design or appearance of a Tesla product or which suggests an association with or endorsement by Tesla) or provided any material assistance to another party doing so.
A list of Tesla Patents subject to the Pledge will be maintained at the following URL: https://www.tesla.com/legal/additional-resources#patent-list.
Open-Source
Check out the tree of the open-source system of Tesla.