Letter Agreement for NPO MTA
*This agreement may not be used for export of materials outside of the United States.*
This Letter Agreement is available for the distribution of Biological Materials to colleagues and researchers at colleges, universities, academic medical institutions and other nonprofit organizations. When research materials are requested by scientists at nonprofit organizations, University of Chicago Investigators may simply download the Letter Agreement, send or mail to the Requestor and when a signed copy of the letter (or email accepting all terms of the agreement) is received by the U of C investigator, the materials may be shipped.
No routing of the Letter Agreement through departmental, divisional or URA is necessary. However, a copy of the Letter Agreement is required to be sent or emailed to the appropriate Senior Manager in URA so that an institutional record of what materials are being shared may be maintained.
The Letter Agreement is NOT for use with commercial organizations. The Letter Agreement may NOT be used for export of materials outside of the United States because of export control regulations. Requests for sharing of research tools outside the U.S. requires a higher level of scrutiny to assure that the University (and the PI) are in compliance with Export Controls, and that appropriate licenses are obtained, if required. URA must be involved with exports to make a determination of appropriate action.
In summary, the ground rules for using the Letter Agreement Letter Agreement MTA are:
- This Agreement may only be used for OUTGOING materials shared with NONPROFIT organizations.
- Use of the Material is for RESEARCH purposes only.
- Material is being shared within the USA.
- The University of Chicago Investigator is responsible for sending the agreement to the Requestor and copying the appropriate Senior Manager.
- URA will share the email with The Polsky Center to keep them apprised of outgoing materials.
- Investigators are advised that if the materials have IP or potential commercial licensing implications, that they should discuss protection of the materials with The Polsky Center prior to sharing with others.
- The formal URA executed Outgoing MTA for nonprofits will still be available for those occasions or investigators who wish to use a more conservative process.
- Sharing of Research Tools with For-Profit organizations will continue to use the URA executed “Outgoing MTA with Commercial Organizations“.