Material Transfer Agreements
A Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) is a legal agreement entered into by a provider and a recipient of research material. The sharing of research products (including, for example, software, cell lines, transgenic animals, monoclonal antibodies) is critical to continuing progress in science, and it is the University’s intention to facilitate the exchange of material among researchers at different institutions. Such material may have commercial value. To protect this value, and the interests of all parties involved, these transfers are managed by means of a Material Transfer Agreement (which may also be called a Research License). This protects the rights of the different parties with regard to publication, freedom of research, confidentiality, and intellectual property.
UChicagoTech handles Material Transfers from the University of Chicago to industry, whether or not the Material is being sent for money or for no charge. It is up to the researcher to decide whether or not to charge a fee.
University Research Administration (URA) handles all other Material Transfers, including those between academic institutions and incoming material from industry to the University of Chicago.
If a fee is charged for a material, under University policy, contributors to nonpatented inventions, software and materials may elect to not receive a personal share of the fee, and instead direct 85% of the gross revenues to their research. Alternatively, the revenues may be distributed as for patentable inventions, for which inventors receive 25% of the gross revenue, their labs receive 10% of the gross revenue, their departments receive 5% of the gross revenue and their division receives 5% of the gross revenue.
Downloadable materials, or information about biological materials, may be posted on UChicagoTech's iBridge Network website. The site may be used for e-commerce (e.g., credit card transactions) for University-owned materials.
Relevant Policies
Revenue Distribution policy
University policy on Patents and Software
New Information Technologies and Intellectual Property at the University: General Principles
University Statutes
