User Agreements are required. Before a user group can begin their research at the ALS, a User Agreement between Berkeley Lab and the user’s sponsoring organization must be signed. Many organizations already have a signed agreement; however, if your organization has not established an agreement, please send an email to alsua@lbl.gov to set one up.
User Agreements are valid for up to five years and only cover work done on ALS beamlines. The User Agreement is the document that permits the User and/or the home organization to retain ownership of intellectual property. Without the User Agreement in place, the University of California (as operator of LBNL) will claim first and exclusive rights to any intellectual property conceived or reduced to practice as a result of the use of ALS facility resources. The User Agreement also defines liability for use of DOE User Facilities.
Please check this list of organizations with current Nonproprietary User Agreements in place. If your organization is on the list, then you are covered. Separate User Agreements are required for proprietary and nonproprietary work. If your work is proprietary, then a Proprietary User Agreement must be in place. Please contact alsua@lbl.gov for assistance.