Ford, patents, and Autoharvest

The magazine Fortune notes that Ford's offer of patents in electric vehicle technology does not reflect a new IP strategy by Ford:


In other words, Ford is not forging into new territory. Instead, the company’s decision signals a larger movement within the automotive industry to get people on board—and starting innovating—in electric vehicle technology.



Separately, Fortune does allude to the "not invented here" philosophy, which is a negative for patent licensing:


The automotive industry has traditionally adopted a we-invented-it-here culture—desperately holding onto and protecting the technology its created in house. So, Ford’s announcement Thursday that it will open up its portfolio of patents to competitors in an effort to accelerate the development of electric vehicles was met with oohs and aahs—as well as comparisons to Tesla Motors.



As noted earlier on IPBiz, the unwillingness of company technology people to acknowledge the value of licensed technology is neither new, nor surprising.

See Survey evidence of Feldman/Lemley criticized; the story of Copaxone


link to Fortune piece: http://fortune.com/2015/05/28/ford-electric-vehicle-patent-announcement/