Patent Pledge and Firm Innovation: The ‘Good Faith’ of Tesla
3 Mar 2025
12:30 -14:00
Times are shown in local time.
Open to: All
CRASSH-Meeting Room
Alison Richard Building (Sidgwick Site)
7 West Road
CB3 9DP
United Kingdom
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Speaker: Ziming Wang, University of Tokyo and Cambridge Judge Business School
About this seminar
On 12 June 2014, Tesla declared that it would refrain from initiating patent litigation against any party that, in good faith, seeks to utilise its technology. The stated intention behind this move was to stimulate the market for electric vehicles.
After a comprehensive discussion of the rationale behind Tesla’s movement and this strategic action’s implications on others, this study presents the first empirical analysis of the impact of patent pledge for pledgor’s entire patent portfolio as a corporate strategy on both the pledgor’s innovation and follow-on innovations. The result indicates that adopting this strategy increased technology similarity for innovations associated with Tesla’s innovation and Tesla’s patenting activity, suggesting an expansion of ecosystem surrounding Tesla.
Nonetheless, no significant impact has been observed on Tesla’s innovation activities and the spillover effects on follow-on innovations, which may be attributed to the good faith condition that distinguishes Tesla’s patent pledge from a patent expiration or mandatory royalty-free licencing. This study has implications for managers and policymakers who consider incorporating similar patent pledges or royalty-free licencing into their toolkit and future research on evaluating the impact of patent pledge or its equivalent under various contexts.
Agenda
12.30 – 12.45
Light lunch and networking
12.45 – 14.00
Talk and Q&A
Register
No registration required.
Please note, this workshop is an in-person event, but in case you are not able to attend, you can also join the workshop virtually on Zoom.