A Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) is a contract between two organizations which facilitates the transfer of materials.  Typically, MTAs are between two universities or other non-profit organizations.

MTAs are used for materials being sent to another party (MTA-Outgoing) or for materials being received by Dartmouth (MTA-Incoming).

The use of the materials transferred is restricted to noncommercial, internal research purposes and may include (a) the sharing of the results of the research, (b) testing of the materials in collaboration with the providing and receiving scientists or (c) as a preliminary step for a potential research collaboration.  

An MTA is also needed when researchers are taking materials with them to a new university or when researchers are joining Dartmouth and bringing materials with them.

An MTA is necessary to document the rights, restrictions and obligations of the parties to the agreement and protects the providing party’s intellectual rights in the materials that are being transferred.

The MTA also addresses any potential intellectual property rights of the receiving party which may result from their research using the materials.

The MTA may also cover issues regarding special handling or confidentiality obligations.

Specific issues covered by an MTA may include:

• Identification/description (and quantity, if appropriate) of the materials to be transferred
• ownership and intellectual property rights of the providing party (to the original materials, progeny and unmodified derivatives) as well as the ownership of any modifications or derivatives made by the receiving party (ownership to the original materials contained in any modifications or derivatives remains with the providing party)
• specific purpose and restrictions for the use of the materials
• confidentiality of the materials or related data or information describing the materials, if applicable
• publication rights, if applicable
• return or destruction of unused materials at the end of the use of the materials
• risks and/or experimental nature of the materials
• other legal issues and restrictions, regulations or laws governing the materials
• compensation or reimbursement for the preparation and/or shipping of the materials 

An MTA In-take Form is used for requests for materials being sent to our researchers and when our researchers want to send materials to other researchers. 

• Download the MTA In-Take form HERE.

Requests should be made by emailing the Technology Transfer Office at technology.transfer@dartmouth.edu. 

Each request will be forwarded to the individual in the office responsible for MTAs and that person will contact the researcher to begin working on the agreement.

The Technology Transfer Office will either send an MTA to the requesting party (either to the researcher or the appropriate office) or will review and negotiate (if necessary) a draft MTA sent by another party to Dartmouth. 

Once of the terms are agreed to by both parties, the Technology Transfer Office will sign the MTA and provide a fully executed copy to the researcher for his/her files.

The materials can then be transferred.

An MTA can be between Dartmouth and a commercial entity if Dartmouth has requested that the commercial entity run tests or analyses on the materials and provide the results back to Dartmouth.

If Dartmouth materials are requested by a for-profit company, a Nonexclusive Tangible Property License may be the appropriate agreement to use rather than a Material Transfer Agreement. Often the agreement is titled “Material Transfer and Nonexclusive Tangible Property License Agreement.”

Compensation for the cost of the preparation of the materials and shipping should be included in these MTAs. 

The UBMTA (Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement) is a standardized, non-negotiable MTA published by the National Institutes of Health in 1995 for the purpose of allowing non-profit institutions to easily transfer biological materials among themselves without the need for negotiating individual MTAs for each transfer.  More than 300 institutions have signed the UBMTA, allowing the participating institutions to transfer materials using a simple Implementing Letter for each transfer.  AUTM, the profession organization of University Technology Managers is the repository for the signed UBMTA Master Agreements.  

• A copy of the UBMTA can be found HERE.
• The Implementing Letter can be found HERE.

The Technology Transfer Office manages the preparation and signature process of the Implementing Letters and maintains copies in its database.

The Material Transfer and Nonexclusive Tangible Property License Agreement has terms similar to a typical MTA but also includes terms granting the receiving party a nonexclusive license to use the materials for a specific purpose. Return of the materials to Dartmouth may be a requirement under the agreement.  

Materials transferred under this type of MTA include devices, biological materials and other materials that require special or unique handling or are materials that have been disclosed to the Technology Transfer Office as an invention.  

A Material Transfer and Nonexclusive Tangible Property License Agreement may also be used with other universities and non-profit organizations if those parties will be testing materials or collaborating with Dartmouth researchers and providing results to Dartmouth.

If the materials being transferred are materials derived from a living person, or will be used with or involve research with human subjects, a protocol approved by the Committee on the Protection of Human Subjects must be obtained before the MTA can be signed and finalized.

If the materials will be used with or in animals, a protocol approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee must be obtained.