"Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology," Musk wrote.
Our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world's factories every day.
"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."
Musk claims patents are actually detrimental to inventors and all they do is "entrench the positions of giant corporations and enrich those in the legal profession".
The reasoning behind going open source is simple. Tesla is unable to produce enough electric cars on its own to address the world's carbon crisis and the firm believes other manufacturers are not doing enough.
"Our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world's factories every day," Musk continued.
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"At best, the large automakers are producing electric cars with limited range in limited volume. Some produce no zero emission cars at all."
In the tech world, patents have been used as a goldmine for competitors, such as Apple and Samsung, who continue to sue each other for billions of dollars.
The move by Tesla to ditch patents comes in the same week as Linux creator Linus Torvalds said the US Patents system was "horribly broken".
Khidr Suleman is the Technical Editor at IT Pro, a role he has fulfilled since March 2012. He is responsible for the reviews section on the site - so get in touch if you have a product you think might be of interest to the business world. He also covers the hardware and operating systems beats.
Prior to joining IT Pro, Khidr worked as a reporter at Incisive Media. He studied law at the University of Reading and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism and Online Writing at PMA Training.
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