Here’s why Elon Musk opening up Tesla’s patents matters

The biggest news in the motoring world this week was the revelation by electric car company Tesla that it would be opening up its patents “for the advancement of electric vehicle technology”.

“If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk writes in the blog, “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”.

And hidden in those words is the reason Tesla’s decision to open up its patent book to the world matters so much.

Read more on Motorburn.