May 28, 2015 - 12:01 am ET
DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is following Tesla Motors in opening up hundreds of patents on electric-car technology to competitors in a move aimed at accelerating development of electrified vehicles.
Ford’s plan differs from Tesla’s, though, in that Ford is licensing its patents for a fee, whereas Tesla last year made its patents available to anyone for free.
Ford said it has more than 650 patents and about 1,000 pending patent applications related to hybrid and plug-in vehicles.
The automaker said it filed more than 400 patents for those technologies last year alone, accounting for more than 20 percent of its 2014 filings, and plans to hire 200 more electrified-vehicle engineers this year to further its research in that area.
http://www.autonews.com/article/201...ake-ev-technology-patents-available-to-rivals
1) Are Ford HEV,PHEV, and BEV patents worth anything to competitors?
2) Are they worth the price Ford is asking?
3) Or is this a green washing publicity stunt Ford posturing as Tesla?
DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is following Tesla Motors in opening up hundreds of patents on electric-car technology to competitors in a move aimed at accelerating development of electrified vehicles.
Ford’s plan differs from Tesla’s, though, in that Ford is licensing its patents for a fee, whereas Tesla last year made its patents available to anyone for free.
Ford said it has more than 650 patents and about 1,000 pending patent applications related to hybrid and plug-in vehicles.
The automaker said it filed more than 400 patents for those technologies last year alone, accounting for more than 20 percent of its 2014 filings, and plans to hire 200 more electrified-vehicle engineers this year to further its research in that area.
http://www.autonews.com/article/201...ake-ev-technology-patents-available-to-rivals
1) Are Ford HEV,PHEV, and BEV patents worth anything to competitors?
2) Are they worth the price Ford is asking?
3) Or is this a green washing publicity stunt Ford posturing as Tesla?
