Yes, Tesla has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against a supercapacitor company in Australia called Cap XX1. This legal action is in response to Cap XX having previously filed a patent infringement claim against Tesla’s Maxwell back in 2019. Despite Tesla’s pledge to open-source its patents, the company clarified that its offer was a “cross-licensing” agreement. In other words, Tesla would provide free access to its patents to anyone who did the same. Cap XX’s failure to respect this requirement led to the lawsuit. The automaker aims to protect its intellectual property rights related to patented electrode technology used in supercapacitors, which it acquired through the Maxwell acquisition1. So, while Tesla pledged not to initiate patent lawsuits against those acting in good faith, it is taking legal action when its own patents are allegedly infringed upon1.
