Elon Musk can't waive the patents of Tesla Motors, because the patents are probably bank collateral, but he's decided that Tesla will not enforce any of its patents anymore.
Whether the Tesla Patents are such a big deal, is another discussion, but at least I fully agree with the content of his blog post on patents:
http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you
Knowledge left unshared, is worthless.
Thanks for sharing this. There was some discussion elsewhere speculating that this decision may partly reflect Tesla's problem with charging stations. In other words what's holding back Tesla's growth is adoption, not competition, and for that more charging stations are necessary. Maybe sharing the patents can help, but I'm sure Tesla would like to jumpstart this somehow.
All Our Patent Are Belong To You
Dat reference though.