zlacker

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 issues with saying so explicitly.

>>seldo+(OP)
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.

>>dnauti+v1
I am pretty sure I can think of simpler ways to issue a fee-free license to a patent.

>>dnauti+v1
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.

>>gkya+36
yeah, not so many ppl are gonna use their patents.

Imo there will be :

* Other car manufacturers (such as BMW, that already contacted Tesla on this matter : http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/12/5804890/bmw-confirms-that-...

* Oil stations (Esso, BP ,etc.). Electricity based car ARE the future. This is their chance to become a part of it.