Chris Moran, senior legal counsel at BP, was speaking at the Oil and Gas IP Summit, taking place in London today (January 27).

After discussing BP’s collaboration with technology companies and universities in the oil industry, Moran was asked a question from Rashid Khan, head of innovation and IP at Aramco Entrepreneurship, about whether BP would consider licensing its patents for the “social good” in the same way Tesla.

In June, Tesla said it would not litigate against car makers using its patents in “good faith”, in what the company said was an attempt to stimulate the electric car market.

But Moran rejected the claim that Tesla’s move was simply for the social good, by stating it was a “hard-nosed business strategy”.

Moran added: “They want businesses to head towards electrification. Tesla’s goal was not to do public good—it was a business strategy. For them it is better to have half of something than all of nothing.”

The comments came after Moran outlined the three concerns when collaborating with a business partner: business, then technology, and finally IP. He said one of the problems with not following these steps in this order is that people “get sucked into a project without thinking why”.

“In the concept of collaboration there is a danger that you begin to look inward and think about your strategy. You don’t think about the rest of the market and you soon find out someone else has IP out there. You can then soon be on the wrong side of an IP lawsuit,” he said.

For Moran, it is important to think about the “usage” of IP and how to “monetise it”, Moran added. He said companies that seek patents at the beginning of their strategy take “closer to a budgetary approach”, where concerns focus on “how much you can spend, not what you can do”.

Instead, “you have to create a plan around creating ideas,” he said.

In 2015, Moran said, he expects to see more collaboration in the oil industry as the price of oil continues to drop. “Less money on technology generated from the sale of oil is likely to bring more collaboration,” he said.

The Oil and Gas IP Summit runs from January 27 to 28.