Material Transfer Agreement Guidelines
A material transfer agreement (MTA) is a contract under which one party (the provider) makes a tangible product, material, or resource available to another party (the recipient) for use in a research project. An MTA is incoming if UWM is receiving the material and outgoing if UWM is sending the material off campus.
MTAs for Incoming Materials
In the U.S., most educational institutions and many non-profits use the Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement (UBMTA) (.docx), which was developed to facilitate the exchange of research material for non-commercial purposes. Governmental agencies usually provide materials under similar terms.
Private, for-profit entities almost always present recipients with an MTA of their own design. If the material is highly valued, the provider may seek to impose a number of onerous provisions on the recipient, including:
- All recipient inventions resulting from the use of the material belong to the provider.
- Publications reporting the use of the material must be approved by the provider or can be delayed for more than 90 days.
- The recipient must indemnify the provider and/or submit to the jurisdiction of an out-of-state court.
Provider Type | Recommended Action for Principal Investigators |
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Domestic Educational/ Non-profit |
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Foreign Educational/ Non-profit |
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Domestic Government Agency |
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Foreign Government Agency |
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Domestic or Foreign For-profit |
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MTAs for Outgoing Materials
UWM faculty members can transfer materials to educational or non-profit organizations under the terms of the Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement, unless the material is owned by the UWM Research Foundation, in which case the request begins there for processing.
Provider Type | Recommended Action for Principal Investigators |
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Domestic or Foreign Educational/Non-profit/ Government |
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For-profit |
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