A User Agreement between Berkeley Lab and the User’s sponsoring organization is required prior to starting experimental work at the ALS. It is the document that permits the User and/or the home organization to retain ownership of intellectual property and defines liability for use of DOE User Facilities. 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. User Agreements are valid for up to five years before requiring an extension and cover the research done on ALS beamlines.
Many organizations have already established a User Agreement with the ALS. Please check this list of organizations with current Non-Proprietary User Agreements in place. You can view a sample copy of the User Agreement language as well (do not use the sample User Agreement to establish a new one). If your organization is on the list, then you are covered for non-proprietary experimental work; however, if your organization is not on the list, please send an email to alsua@lbl.gov to initiate the process.
A separate User Agreement is required for proprietary experimental work. Please contact alsua@lbl.gov to initiate establishment of a Proprietary User Agreement or to confirm the status of an existing Proprietary User Agreement.
