Tesla Motors on Thursday announced that it will not file any lawsuits against companies that wants to use its patented technology for electric vehicles.

"Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case," Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote in a blog post. "They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology."

Musk said that when he started his first company, Zip2, he though patents were important and worked hard to get as many as possible. These days, his view of patents has changed.

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"Too often these days they serve merely to stifle progress, entrench the positions of giant corporations and enrich those in the legal profession, rather than the actual inventors," Musk wrote. "After Zip2, when I realized that receiving a patent really just meant that you bought a lottery ticket to a lawsuit, I avoided them whenever possible."

Still, Musk said that he "felt compelled" to obtain patents for Tesla's electric vehicle tech to prevent big car makers from copying the technology and using their resources to overwhelm the company. But it turns out, he had nothing to worry about. At this point, electric car programs at major manufacturers are "small to non-existent," accounting for less than 1 percent of their sales, he said.

"It is impossible for Tesla to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis," Musk wrote. "We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly evolving technology platform."

Musk first signaled his willingness to open source Tesla patents last week during the U.K. launch of the Model S.

For more, check out 10 Thrilling Minutes in Tesla's Model S and the slideshow above.