Material Transfer Agreements
Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) are agreements that establish the terms under which an entity or scientist can transfer tangible materials to a third party for research purposes. Such materials refers to tangible items produced during the course of academic research and includes biological materials such as chemical compounds, devices, clones, plasmids, gene fragments, DNA probes, hybridomas or other cell lines and transgenic animals etc.
There are two types of MTAs;
Outgoing MTAs govern the transfer of material from Trinity (Provider) to a third party; and Incoming MTAs govern the transfer of material form a third party to Trinity (Recipient). These MTAs outline and delineate the legal obligations of the Provider and Recipient with regard to the material being transferred. It’s important to note that MTAs are not always standard and often require some level of negotiation to satisfy the interests of both Provider and Recipient of the material. Some of the most important terms that are negotiated are ownership of IP, publication rights, warranties, indemnities and liabilities. The relevant Case Manager will negotiate all MTAs and ensure all terms are acceptable to Trinity and the academic and scholarly rights of the academic is not compromised in any way. An authorized signatory from the TR&I section must sign off on these agreements on behalf of the University.