invent more tools and/or conduct related
research, and advance the research in your
area. The mean evaluation is negative, at 2.7
(P = 0.0003). Respondents are not strongly
impressed by the supply-side effects of IP
rights on tools.
Having just been reminded of possible positive
effects of IP rights, the researchers nevertheless
believe that IP protection hinders their
research. We asked them to evaluate, on the
5-point Likert scale, as above, the following
statements:
Statement IIA. Overall, the intellectual property
protection of research tools is having
a positive impact on research in your area.
Respondents on average disagree significantly
with this statement (mean evaluation 2.3, P =
0.0001).
Statement IIB. Overall, the intellectual property
protection of research tools is having a
negative impact on research in your area. A
majority agrees with Statement IIB (mean evaluation
3.7, P = 0.0001). Note that Statement
IIB is a negative restatement of Statement IIA,
and the responses are symmetrical, betraying
no bias related to the difference in the form of
the question.
How can scientists so unconcerned with
infringement see IP rights as an impediment
to research? The answer is that they
associate problems of IP rights with problems
with MTAs. Proliferation of patent
protection is a key driver of the increase in
university enforcement of the use of MTAs
for exchanges of research materials. In particular,
after the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act, “When
professors sent cell lines or reagents to other
scientists, they now had to accompany them
with a materials transfer agreement containing
complex restrictions against further
distribution”21.
Walsh et al.9 find that when the recipient
of a request for a research material asked for
an MTA, there was less friction in the transfer
process, perhaps because the response indicates
a willingness to comply with the request.
Nevertheless, we find that researchers associate
MTAs with the types of transaction costs discussed
by Eisenberg22.
The costs of formal agreements
Almost one-half of respondents disagree
with the following statement: “Research
tools are easily exchanged through licensing/
material transfer agreements.” (Forty-eight
percent and 47% “disagree” or “disagree
strongly” for tools from academia and from
industry, respectively, whereas only 25% and
17% agree or agree strongly, respectively.)