In June 2014, Elon Musk released Tesla Motors’ patents “in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology,” as he wrote in a blog post on Tesla’s website. Musk wrote that he felt it was impossible for his company to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis, and that the world would benefit from more companies adopting his technology.
Image: Tesla patent image from http://patft.uspto.gov/