Toyota to give away fuel-cell patents to boost industry

Yahoo – AFP, 6 Jan 2015

A man refuels Toyota Motor's fuel cell vehicle "Mirai" at a hydrogen station

in Tokyo on November 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno)

Tokyo (AFP) - Toyota will give away thousands of patents for its fuel-cell cars, it said Tuesday, in an effort to encourage other automakers into the new industry.

The world's largest vehicle maker said it will allow royalty-free use of about 5,680 patent licences, including 1,970 related to fuel-cell stacks and 3,350 concerning fuel-cell system control technology.

The firm also said the free patent licences will include about 290 items related to high-pressure hydrogen tanks.

Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor's fuel

 cell vehicle "Mirai" is displayed in Tokyo

on November 18, 2014 (AFP Photo/

Yoshikazu Tsuno)

The cost-free licences will be allowed "through the initial market introduction period" of fuel cell vehicles (FCV), which the company expects to last until about 2020.

Toyota will also open about 70 patent licences related to hydrogen stations -- the equivalent of gas stands for internal combustion vehicles, and a vital link in the chain for drivers -- indefinitely for manufacturers and operators.

"By allowing royalty-free use of FCV-related patent licences, Toyota is going one step further as it aims to promote the widespread use of FCVs and actively contribute to the realisation of a hydrogen-based society," the automaker said in a statement.

The announcement came after Toyota last month rolled out the world's first mass market fuel-cell car -- the four-door Mirai sedan -- in Japan.

The car -- whose name means "future" in Japanese -- will hit the US and some European countries, including Britain, Germany and Denmark, in 2015, Toyota has said.

It hopes to sell more than 3,000 units of the car by the end of 2017 in the United States, and up to 100 annually in Europe.

Fuel-cell cars are seen as the Holy Grail of green cars as they are powered by a chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, which produces nothing more harmful than water at the point of use.

But a limited driving range and lack of refuelling stations have hampered development of fuel-cell and their cousin, all-electric cars, which environmentalists say could play a vital role in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and slowing global warming.

The Mirai can travel about 650 kilometres (400 miles) without refuelling, some three times further than an electric car, and its tank can be filled in a few minutes like gasoline engine vehicles, according to Toyota.

Related Articles:

Tesla opens patents to rivals in China to expand industry
Tesla gives up patents to 'open source movement'

Tesla opens patents to rivals in China to expand industry

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-10-19

A Tesla electric car on display at an auto show in Shenyang, Liaoning
province, June 26. (File photo/Xinhua)

Tesla Motors, the world's leading manufacturer of electric vehicles, is allowing the use its patented technology free of cost by any auto manufacturer in China, according to the president of Tesla's China operations Veronica Wu.

Wu reiterated the company's policies on patent use Oct. 14 on the sidelines of an event during which Tesla and China Minsheng Bank announced that they will set up at least 400 charging areas at the bank locations in 20 cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.

"We don't exactly know how many people are making use of Tesla's patents as they don't need to inform us in advance of using them," Wu told the China Youth Daily.

Usually, if someone wants to develop electric cars by adopting technology that is the same as or similar to a patented one, they would need to pay the patent holders first, Wu explained.

In this case, however, manufacturers who use Tesla's patented technology do not violate any patent rights as the automobile giant is willing to let its competitors use its technology free of charge, Wu added.

"Our offer aims to let more people enter the industry with low investment costs spurs development of the electric car market. We believe that the industry is still in its formative stage and needs advanced technology to progress," Wu noted.

Tesla has 400 patents of its core technology under its name, including those of electric car battery management, battery charging systems and the development of new types of batteries.

A patent that stands out among the rest is one that the company was granted in 2010 for a new, innovative new type of hybrid car battery, which allows cars to travel long distances without greatly raising the cost.

Tesla pioneered innovations that lowered the manufacturing costs and increased the safety of battery packs. It is now permitting its biggest rivals to make use of their patents in an attempt to nudge the rest of the automotive market to make advancements in technology related to electric vehicles, Wu remarked.

Tesla gives up patents to 'open source movement'

Yahoo – AFP, Rob Lever, 13 June 2014

Electric carmaker Tesla announced Thursday it was giving up its patents to "the open source movement," to help spur electric vehicle technology.

The unusual move comes with Tesla enjoying huge success, but against a backdrop of multiplying legal squabbles among technology firms over patents.

"All our patents belong to you," Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said in a blog post.

"Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology."

Musk, an entrepreneur who made a fortune with the PayPal online payment service and also heads the space travel firm Space X, said he does not want patents to halt growth of an important environmental technology.

"We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform," he wrote.

He said when Tesla was launched, "we felt compelled to create patents out of concern that the big car companies would copy our technology and then use their massive manufacturing, sales and marketing power to overwhelm Tesla."

But he said this turned out not to be the case.

"We couldn't have been more wrong," he said.

"The unfortunate reality is the opposite: electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that doesn?t burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an average of far less than one percent of their total vehicle sales."

Musk added that Tesla "will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology."

Patent costs and benefits

Brian Love, a Santa Clara University law professor, said he has seen a "very positive reaction" to Tesla's decision.

"There is an ongoing debate in this country about the costs and benefits patents bring to small companies," Love told AFP in an email.

"In his statement, Elon Musk explains that, while he originally thought patents were worthwhile, he has since come to believe that they generally do more harm than good."

But Love said it is not clear if Tesla is in fact ceding all its rights.

"Rather, it seems to be simply promising not to proactively sue those who enter the electric car market and use similar technology," he said.

Robert Stoll, a former US patent commissioner who practices law in Washington, said that Tesla "must have a good business reason for wanting to freely share its electric car patents with others."

Stoll told AFP: " Tesla might be planning to distinguish itself from the competitors it helps by producing a better product from its longer history in this industry or by inventing and patenting better electric cars than are available today."

He added that the move is not unprecedented and that the US Patent Office has a mechanism to allow companies to cede their patent rights.

Tesla earlier this year unveiled plans for a so-called "Gigafactory" for advanced electric car batteries as part of a plan to move from niche manufacturer to mass market carmaker.

The company says it hopes to bring the cost of production down and produce 500,000 cars a year.

Tesla, which makes a $75,000 sedan in heavy demand from well-heeled buyers, saw shares quadruple last year on expectations of surging growth.

Shares in Tesla dipped 0.46 percent to end at $203.52. The company's market value is above $25 billion, a figure which suggests investors expect huge growth from the California firm.