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"but Tesla gave away their patents to help humanity." I remember that marketing trick. "Change the world" I remember that one too. Now I'm a skeptic. I just

"but Tesla gave away their patents to help humanity." I remember that marketing trick. "Change the world" I remember that one too. Now I'm a skeptic. I just can't get excited about Tesla claims anymore. My brain has developed defensive mechanisms against their propaganda/PR machine.

rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
>their propaganda/PR machine You mean Elon's tweets? Because Tesla has, by far, the tiniest "propaganda/PR machine" in their industry. Do you have any idea how much their competitors spend on PR, advertising and lobbying? Also, how much their suppliers and partners (e.g oil and gas) bring to the table?
- eloff 5y ago
  The money they don't spend on advertising is a huge part of their competitive advantage.
TeMPOraL 5y ago
> "but Tesla gave away their patents to help humanity." (...) "Change the world" (...) They did, tho. They've pretty much forced the worldwide electrification of cars to happen, in spite of the market wanted. That's a huge help for humanity and a big change to the world. It's funny you should become skeptical over the rare case where pretentious slogans were actually true.
- foepys 5y ago
  > They did, tho. They did give away their patents under the condition that everybody using them cannot sue Tesla. It's a bad deal for every other automaker because they either have far larger and far more specific patent pools or if they don't have patents, Tesla can steal every idea they will ever have. The whole thing was marketing bs from the very start. Tesla knew that nobody would take them up on the offer and in fact, literally nobody did.
  - rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
    >They did give away their patents under the condition that everybody using them cannot sue Tesla. Not true: they can still sue Tesla but, then, Tesla reserves the right to sue them too (if they believe the patent is being used as part of an initiative against electrification). The judge will be the one evaluating the "good faith" argument and Tesla can lose, of course.
    - foepys 5y ago
      There is no difference. You use Tesla's patents and Tesla can use yours. Nobody will take it to court to test this out. Tesla will always come out ahead anyways as Tesla's revenue and production numbers are just too small compared to other automakers. Tesla's patents also don't seem very relevant as there are plenty of other EV models on the market now, so why risk it?
      - rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
        >Tesla's revenue and production numbers are just too small compared to other automakers Tesla revenues are already 1/3 of GM, and increasing extremely fast (+73% YoY) while other are trying to maintain their market shares and will probably eat their own (profitability) while trying to switch to EV. More importantly, Tesla has over 75% of EV revenues market shares in the US and probably >99% of the profits. >Tesla's patents also don't seem very relevant as there are plenty of other EV models on the market now, so why risk it? The relevance of their patents also rises as they continue to increase their technical lead (in cell production, structural packs, energy management systems…). Where does the competition compete, when we look at their latest products (e.g Model S 2021 vs Porsche Taycan, or Model Y vs Fors Mach E)?

rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago

>their propaganda/PR machine You mean Elon's tweets? Because Tesla has, by far, the tiniest "propaganda/PR machine" in their industry. Do you have any idea how much their competitors spend on PR, advertising and lobbying? Also, how much their suppliers and partners (e.g oil and gas) bring to the table?

eloff 5y ago
The money they don't spend on advertising is a huge part of their competitive advantage.

TeMPOraL 5y ago

> "but Tesla gave away their patents to help humanity." (...) "Change the world" (...) They did, tho. They've pretty much forced the worldwide electrification of cars to happen, in spite of the market wanted. That's a huge help for humanity and a big change to the world. It's funny you should become skeptical over the rare case where pretentious slogans were actually true.

foepys 5y ago
> They did, tho. They did give away their patents under the condition that everybody using them cannot sue Tesla. It's a bad deal for every other automaker because they either have far larger and far more specific patent pools or if they don't have patents, Tesla can steal every idea they will ever have. The whole thing was marketing bs from the very start. Tesla knew that nobody would take them up on the offer and in fact, literally nobody did.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
  >They did give away their patents under the condition that everybody using them cannot sue Tesla. Not true: they can still sue Tesla but, then, Tesla reserves the right to sue them too (if they believe the patent is being used as part of an initiative against electrification). The judge will be the one evaluating the "good faith" argument and Tesla can lose, of course.
  - foepys 5y ago
    There is no difference. You use Tesla's patents and Tesla can use yours. Nobody will take it to court to test this out. Tesla will always come out ahead anyways as Tesla's revenue and production numbers are just too small compared to other automakers. Tesla's patents also don't seem very relevant as there are plenty of other EV models on the market now, so why risk it?
    - rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
      >Tesla's revenue and production numbers are just too small compared to other automakers Tesla revenues are already 1/3 of GM, and increasing extremely fast (+73% YoY) while other are trying to maintain their market shares and will probably eat their own (profitability) while trying to switch to EV. More importantly, Tesla has over 75% of EV revenues market shares in the US and probably >99% of the profits. >Tesla's patents also don't seem very relevant as there are plenty of other EV models on the market now, so why risk it? The relevance of their patents also rises as they continue to increase their technical lead (in cell production, structural packs, energy management systems…). Where does the competition compete, when we look at their latest products (e.g Model S 2021 vs Porsche Taycan, or Model Y vs Fors Mach E)?