The UCSF Office of Technology Management has been delegated with administrative responsibility and provided signature authority on behalf of The Regents of the University of California for outgoing Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) for materials that are not human specimens. The OTM staff is available to answer any questions you may have about material transfer and to negotiate transfer terms and conditions with recipients of your materials. For outgoing transfers from UCSF of human specimens, contact the Industry Contracts Division of the Office of Sponsored Research. The Industry Contracts Division also handles all MTAs for materials coming to UCSF, regardless of whether they come from industry, academia, the government, or private research institutes.

The OTM provides two outgoing material transfer agreement forms for the transfer of your tangible research properties that are not human specimens.

•  Non-Profit Material Transfer Agreement
•  For-Profit Material Transfer Agreement

Investigators with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute should use the forms approved by the HHMI for transferring materials to For-Profit and Non-Profit organizations.

In general, the processing of outgoing MTAs is smooth and it is not often that recipients will request changes to the terms of these MTAs. However, please refer any questions or comments from the recipient to the OTM staff.

Non-Profit MTA

This MTA is recommended for transferring material from your laboratory to colleagues at other non-profit scientific research institutions. You may wish to add paragraphs that may apply to the specific material you are agreeing to transfer, such as special handling instructions. Should the material be costly to transfer, you may also wish to specify a reasonable payment to cover such costs.

The OTM does not have to countersign MTAs for materials you send to non-profit institutions, but you should send the OTM a fully executed copy for the campus master file.

Top of Page

For-Profit MTA

This MTA is required for transferring material from your laboratory to commercial organizations. This form must be signed by the OTM -- companies do not wish to receive property without a signature that is binding on the university.

You may fill out the form yourself and send it directly to the recipient or have the recipient contact the OTM and request the MTA, which the OTM shall fill out based on information it obtains from you. Note that paragraphs 5 and 6 can be deleted if the recipient is not using the Materials to determine its interest in licensing the Materials or a related invention. In any event, all changes to the form must be approved by the OTM.