🚀 go-pugleaf

dal3@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (dale.e.parson) writes:

>In article <=#brqzm@dixie.com> jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond) writes:
>>
>>
>>None of this applies, of course, to tangible assets.  Who owns the 
>>equipment, software, etc would be governed by the contract between
>>the university and the payor.  Being someone who has purchased 
>>university research, I can assure you my contracts have specified
>>the university controls their side of the deal.  

       This varies with the funding agency.  Some contract research
specifies that the equipment purchased becomes the property of the
contracting agency, which can redeploy it as desired.  In the DoD
contracting world, when you finish a contract, the contracting agency
may order you to pack up the equipment and ship it someplace, maybe
even to a competitor.  Grants are a different matter, and I'm not 
famillar with current grant terms.

       In the contract situation, if the people doing the work have a
strong relationship with the contracting agency, it may well be possible
to move to another organization and have the equipment follow them.
This is unusual, but it happens.  Typically it happens when the researcher
involved is an acknowleged leader in the field.  It's not usually a 
hostile situation that brings this on; it's typically something like
"I could get better work done if I was at place X, where related
work is already being done/additional facilities are available/etc".
Sometimes the contracting agency initiates the move, as part of an
effort to concentrate activity in a field at a "center of excellence".
It's not common in the contracts world just because someone is having
political problems.

					John Nagle