San Carlos, CA — Perhaps when you hit a wall, when you get writer’s block, when you are stumped and devoid of new ideas, you have been told to take some deep breaths, take a long walk, meditate, or do something else to help you relax. While these are actually very helpful tips, none of them include talking to someone else. Usually when we have an idea, we keep it to ourselves until we are sure our idea is ready to be presented or profited from. It seems ingrained in us to guard our ideas carefully for fear that they will be stolen. And while it is possible that someone could take our ideas if we were to share them, here is why it is worth taking that risk, as demonstrated by Tesla, the American electric car corporation based in San Carlos, CA, when the co-founder and CEO, Elon Musk, announced in a Tesla blog post on June 12, 2014 that Tesla “will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.” In other words, Tesla is open to sharing its patents with other innovative individuals and companies.
Let’s start by debunking the myth of originality in terms of generating ideas. The best and most ground-breaking ideas are rarely generated by one individual. The eighteenth century politician, thinker, inventor, and scientist, Benjamin Franklin, is accredited with countless ideas, but it is common knowledge that he actually shared his ideas with others and built many of his ideas off of the ideas of others. Salons, invented first in 16th century Italy, were social gatherings meant to inspire creativity and invention through the power of conversation and sharing ideas aloud. This concept thrived for hundreds of years, sparking theories, ideas, and inventions that changed the world.
Tesla took a risk, a leap of faith full of risk. It risked losing shareholders and investors, reputation, and profit. However, it decided to take the risk head on and decided to allow for the possibility of even greater innovations, inventions, and improvements upon the already existing electric car patents with the goal of a greener world in mind. Already, Toyota and Daimler have used some Tesla ideas. Ideas require other ideas in order to grow, evolve, and adapt. If other companies and individuals build off of Tesla’s idea to share ideas, the world could be thinking and inventing as quickly as Benjamin Franklin and the guests of salons.
Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla.
The Tesla Model S.
Sources:Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/06/16/what-tesla-stands-to-gain-from-sharing-its-patents/), Tesla (http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you), Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/12/us-tesla-patents-idUSKBN0EN23J20140612), NPR (http://www.npr.org/2012/03/19/148777350/how-creativity-works-its-all-in-your-imagination)
This is actually really interesting because I remember hearing about when the three-point seat belt was invented. While we are always told to be careful with our ideas and make sure they don’t get stolen, the three-point seatbelt is used by nearly all manufactures of cars. However, Volvo was actually the inventor of the three-point belt as they first invented it in 1959. But instead of, copyrighting it so that only they could use it, Volvo opened the patent up so that other car manufacturers could use it for free. It did this in the interest of safety and the sharing of their idea has saved many lived since the three-point belt is much safer than the two-point. I wish that our society encouraged us to share ideas more since, without a doubt, we would be able to accomplish much more. Working in tandem with people is much more productive than hoarding everything for yourself.
Academic integrity is essential here at PSU, and as freshmen, we are constantly told to not allow anyone to use our ideas, unless they cite us as the source. While this is a great way to avoid plagiarism, it also does not allow us to bounce our ideas off of other people for fear that they will take our idea and use it as their own. However, I am a fan of the risk that Tesla took, as it seems like they are willing to increase the speed of new innovations by allowing their ideas to inspire other people and companies to create new ideas. In a world that has companies that allow all of their ideas to be public, technology would advance every day, and new applications of “old” concepts would be discovered. I imagine that the world will be a better place with this system set up in every company. Additionally, this would eventually stop intellectual fraud, as all the ideas from each company are out in the open and could be modified for the better.