Table of Contents

Message from the President Rebecca M. McNeill

Message from the Editor

Minutes of the Annual Meeting

Annual Symposium

BIPLA Annual Writing Competition

MTAS and the Common Law of Bailment

2023 BIPLA Comment on Expanding Criteria for Admission to Practice

2023 BIPLA Comment on Patent System Robustness and Reliability

Members on the Move

A Look At The Legal Intersection Of AI And Life Sciences

Optimising prosecution strategy for patent term extensions in Europe

What is the current threshold for support of a patent claim in New Zealand?

The Top Ten TTAB Decisions of 2022

List of Officers and Board of Governors

Job Listings

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2023 Ⓒ Boston Intellectual Property Law Association

NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

Volume 54, Issue 1

MTAS and the Common Law of Bailment: Minimizing Misunderstandings, Avoiding Dispute, Managing IPR, and Accelerating Innovation

By Brittany Reeves, JD Candidate at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law

We congratulate our 2022 Writing Competition winners, Andrea McCollum (First Place) and Brittany Reeves (Second Place), both J.D. Candidates at University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law. A publication of Brittany Reeves’s second place winning paper, “MTAs and the Common Law of Bailment: Minimizing Misunderstanding, Avoiding Dispute, Managing IPR, and Accelerating Innovation” is included in this newsletter.

Abstract

Exchanges of research materials are essential to combatting rapidly emerging infectious diseases, as well as neglected tropical diseases that still wreak havoc around the world. This Note illustrates the importance of carefully managing these exchanges because the materials and any downstream products could hold great value. It advocates for greater understanding of the instruments used to facilitate these exchanges, such as Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs), to set forth ownership rights.

This Note explores misunderstandings in the sharing of research materials that could lead to dispute if MTAs do not clearly address both ownership of tangible property and intellectual property rights (IPR). It contemplates various circumstances where disputes could fall into the common law of bailment conundrum and drastically delay innovation. Furthermore, this Note discusses how MTAs should be used to protect assets and speed up scientific progress because research frequently operates in an open innovation model that calls for exchanges of materials at various stages along the path from research to innovation to commercialization.