At least, wouldn’t they be able to pick and choose certain items to copy and innovate on in order to save some portion of RnD costs?
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First off, Tesla’s patents are still owned by Tesla. If they choose to do so, they could pursue legal action against someone using their patents.
If you don’t want that legal action taken against you, you have to sign the [Tesla Patent Pledge.](https://www.tesla.com/legal/additional-resources#patent-pledge) There is a part of this pledge that is concerning for a company that I’ll bold:
>A party is “acting in good faith” for so long as such party and its related or affiliated companies have not:
>**asserted, helped others assert or had a financial stake in any assertion of (i) any patent or other intellectual property right against Tesla** or (ii) any patent right against a third party for its use of technologies relating to electric vehicles or related equipment
The bolded part means that by using Tesla’s patents, you can’t prevent them from using any patents you register. That essentially means that in return for Tesla’s patents, they get all of yours. That’s a tradeoff that a LOT of companies are not willing to make.
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