Supply of cultures

Terms and conditions

Service collections supply cultures from their collections with no terms or conditions of use attached. The purchaser is therefore free to use the culture in any way he wishes. These ‘open’ collections comprise cultures listed in catalogues that are available for sale to the public at stated prices.

However, not all cultures held in collections are available without restriction. In addition to patent strains, where special conditions apply (Chapter 6), or safe-deposit strains held on a confidential basis for a depositor (Chapter 7), strains isolated by collection staff or on which research has been carried out may also be held in ‘reserve’. Such ‘reserve’ strains, which may be of potential industrial importance, are not included in catalogues nor made generally available to the public, but may be supplied on special terms on a case-by-case basis. They are usually supplied exclusively to a single industrial purchaser, together with data on their attributes. In addition to an initial payment for the exclusive rights, involvement in the further development of the strain and access to data derived, a small royalty on any resultant income may be stipulated. Some culture collections that have used their own resources to discover new biochemical or microbial activities of strains, feel it is appropriate that they receive some return should these strains prove to be commercially rewarding.