If you want to learn more about Elon Musk, you can start here: http://everyelonmuskvideo.tumblr.com/
All Our Patent Are Belong To You
121–130 of 328 posts
Re: All Our Patent Are Belong To You
#122I wonder if they will consider more open source also?
Re: All Our Patent Are Belong To You
#123There is no legal covenant here. I imagine Tesla’s definition of “good faith” is “we evaluate on a case by case basis”. Which amounts to “if we like you” and “we reserve the right”. If they wanted these patents to be open source, they would license them explicitly.
They would be on the receiving end of a PR shitstorm if they tried to enforce their patents after publishing this.
> They would be on the receiving end of a PR shitstorm if they tried to enforce their patents after publishing this.
I can see a situation where a competitor / patent troll sues them, and they use the patents defensively. If they're obviously on the right side, their PR department won't have such a hard time.
Re: All Our Patent Are Belong To You
#124There is no legal covenant here. I imagine Tesla’s definition of “good faith” is “we evaluate on a case by case basis”. Which amounts to “if we like you” and “we reserve the right”. If they wanted these patents to be open source, they would license them explicitly.
I'm curious about this. To what degree is a CEO writing and publicly distributing the statement, "Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology." legally binding? "In good faith" actually strikes me as reasonably interpretable by a court, so I guess the question is just how much "he said so in a blog post" counts. I'd love to hear a lawyer weigh in on this.
Nothing is legally binding without a meeting of the minds: offer, acceptance, and consideration. Tesla is offering not to sue you, yes. What are you giving Tesla in return? Who signed a contract memorializing this agreement? What money is changing hands?
This promise is just as legally binding as the promises of political candidates when they are campaigning (i.e. not at all), and is worth exactly how much you paid for it (i.e. nothing).
That said, of all the companies out there who can make a promise, Tesla is near the top of my list of the most trustworthy.
Would I believe this promise if Apple, Google or Microsoft made it? Hell no. But for some ineffable reason, I believe Elon Musk when he promises something, and I believe Tesla wouldn't promise something without Musk's approval.
I still would get a license agreement to back up this promise if I were going to use any of their technology, though. You'd be stupid not to. Tesla shareholders could ultimately kick Elon Musk to the curb just as Apple did to Jobs. Musk could pull a reverse-Gates and become an asshole in his old age instead of a philanthropist. Nothing is certain in the world of business.
Trust, but verify.
Re: All Our Patent Are Belong To You
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
They have definitely left a lot of wiggle room and you'd be crazy to build stuff based on their patents without a licensing agreement, but I think this signals that they are very open to licensing their technology, and are not trying to "build a moat". This would be a lot more interesting if they were willing to state the terms on which they are willing to license the patents, but there are probably complex legal iss…
Easier would be if they created an online form or possibly a meatspace dropbox (to realistically prevent DDOSes) which auto-issues you a license to use their patents at zero monetary cost or cost of postage.
I can't see the need for automation here. It's not like millions will wake up tomorrow to build electric cars in their garages and start a company to sell those.
Re: All Our Patent Are Belong To You
#126How can you not love this guy?
Re: All Our Patent Are Belong To You
#127There is no legal covenant here. I imagine Tesla’s definition of “good faith” is “we evaluate on a case by case basis”. Which amounts to “if we like you” and “we reserve the right”. If they wanted these patents to be open source, they would license them explicitly.
Promissory estoppel can apply without a covenant, but the good faith thing is pretty vague in the absence of a contract. Most likely they are going to put out licensing terms that protect Tesla against certain patent suits-- perhaps protecting them from new patents building-on-top-of/citing Tesla's own patents.
Re: All Our Patent Are Belong To You
#128You want to make money or you want to change the world ?
I really liked Tesla here, there is the "good faith" deal, but still...
Re: All Our Patent Are Belong To You
#129"Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology." What exactly does that little "in good faith" clause mean in there?
People are optimistic but I'm with you. For example, using the Supercharger network requires that the automotive company offer energy for free for life to customers, and charge up front at the point of sale for all energy requirements for the life of the vehicle. That's Musk's business model and is enforcing it for anyone who wants to use his "open infrastructure". Which is bollocks to me: only wealthy people buying…
> but Toyota and Ford? You can't ask budget customers to prepay a decade's worth of travel costs.
A 2014 Ford Focus gets ~40mpg. Assuming 12,000 miles/year, that's ~300 gallons of fuel. Assume, conservatively, $3/gallon. That's ~$900/year for fuel, or $2700 over 3 years. The cost to get supercharger access from Tesla is $2000 at time of purchase ($2500 after delivery).
To finance $2000 at even a ridiculously high 10% over 3 years is $64.53/month, fully loaded principal and interest. This is already less than most people pay per month for gasoline/petrol.
And that's THREE YEARS. After that, to fuel at Superchargers is essentially free (already amortized).
Re: All Our Patent Are Belong To You
#130this is another marketing ploy. this is also the beginning of Elon preparing for his next career move. Elon's
realizing he has hit the technical and economic limits of all battery vehicles and can't deliver. now that he has
given away all his patents, he will make moves to distance himself from Tesla. he will hand over
the reins to someone else. step away. start another unrelated business. and when tesla crashes and burns (no pun
intended) he will be able to say it wasn't his fault, that he left them with all the tools and "they" couldn't make it
happen. in the executive world they call it the "sideways shuffle" or the "Teflon shoulder".