Did Tech Company Tesla Just Commit the Ultimate Sin?

When you think about some of the most influential people in the world, there’s a name that probably doesn’t come to mind at first.

The first name you probably think of is the President of the United States (whoever that is at the time). And then a few others probably spring to mind; Angela Merkel maybe…David Cameron? Oprah? Beyoncé?

I’m not sure who you think of first, but usually there’s only one person I think of when someone asks that question. It’s Elon Musk.

Musk is the CEO of two companies. This in itself is an unusual prospect. There are not many people in the world who can successfully run two companies. In fact, many struggle to run just one.

But not only does Musk run two companies, he runs two of the most innovative pioneering companies in the world, SpaceX and Tesla.

However, according to ‘traditional’ business principles, Musk just committed the ultimate sin at Tesla.

Most businesses would sack their CEO for this

If Musk was in charge of any other company (one that wasn’t made in his own image), it’s possible he’d now be facing the sack.

Not only has he opened the door to competitors, he’s basically given them the key and the security codes as well.

Here’s exactly what Musk has done at Tesla, according to the company blog,

‘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.’

The blog continues, ‘Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.’

What that means is anyone, in good faith, who chooses to use Tesla patented technologycan now do so without fear. In effect they are giving away their ‘trade secrets’ for the good of technological progress.

Tesla is now ‘open source’.

This trend of open source is good for technology, good for innovation and good for the world. Once the ‘instructions’ are out in the wild, it allows for others to get involved.

This is good because it gets an entire industry, a community, together working on a shared goal.

This kind of sharing attitude is a rarity in today’s technology environment. Some of the biggest headlines of the last year have been in regards to patent lawsuits. Apple vs Google, Yahoo vs Facebook, Twitter vs IBM…just some of the tech giants that go toe to toe over patents.

It’s one of the biggest issues in tech right now. None of these companies want to give away an advantage to the competition. By protecting their patents, they’re protecting their market position. They’re protecting their technology.

By protecting their technology they’re of course trying to act in the best interests of the company and shareholders. But in all reality, they’re holding back the speed at whichtechnology can advance.

There’s a widely held belief that all the current patent litigation is in fact slowing the pace of innovation. This may be true, but if so, Musk’s actions mean we could be in for a distinct change of pace.

By releasing all of Tesla’s patents, the entire industry can leverage off the world’s leading electric carmaker. This means the likes of BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen and Toyota will be knocking on the door pretty soon.

The key to Tesla’s strategy all along

Actually it seems like BMW is already in the door. There’s a bit of chatter going around that suggests BMW is going to partner with Tesla on their Supercharger network.

Tesla’s Superchargers are key to their electric car strategy. You see, with an electric car, when it runs out of charge, you need to plug it in to get going again. Now, in a petrol car, when you run out of petrol you’re never too far away for a petrol station to refuel.

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