by Ron Pernick for renewableenergyworld.com
Source: renewableenergyworld.com
In recent months, a veritable open patent war has erupted between Tesla Motors and Toyota. Both companies have been widely cited in the industry and financial press for their respective announcements opening up their electric vehicle (Tesla) and fuel cell (Toyota) patents.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk opened the first salvo with a blog post last June in which he announced that Tesla would “not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.”
He cited the desire to “accelerate the advent of sustainable transport” as a prime motivator. Toyota followed suit in January 2015, announcing that the company would open up both its fuel cell vehicle (FCV) and hydrogen production and supply related patents, until 2020 for the former and indefinitely for the latter.
Commentators have criticized both companies for a host of different reasons. In Tesla’s case, a number of analysts have pointed out that, depending on how you interpret “good faith,” the patents won’t likely end up being used by large or serious competitors. In Toyota’s case, many have pointed out that by offering royalty-free use of its FCV patents for such a brief time (2015-2020), the overall impact of the gesture will be limited.
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