Amendment to the license agreement between Takara Bio USA, Inc. and RIKEN BRC on preservation and distribution of Fluorescent Proteins for academic use

On January 14, 2016, and On April 1, 2018, Takara Bio USA, Inc. (TBUSA： formerly Clontech Laboratories, Inc.) and RIKEN BioResource Resource Center (RIKEN BRC: formerly RIKEN BioResource Center) concluded an agreement on the Limited Distribution License for Fluorescent Proteins (hereafter abbreviated as FPs) owned or licensed by TBUSA.
Under this agreement, we had asked you to bear a part of license fees when we distributed the bioresources containing the FPs.

In October 2020, the patents for the following FPs expired in Japan: AmCyan, AsRed, ZsGreen, ZsYellow and E2-Crimson.

In April 2023, the patent for the following FPs expired in Japan:
DsRed2, DsRed Express1, mCherry, mStrawberry, mOrange, mBanana, mPlum, mRaspberry, tdTomato, mApple, HcRed, AcGFP and mRFP1.

From April 17, 2023, we no longer need to ask you to bear a part of the license fees for these FPs expired in Japan.

In addition, we are now able to provide to for-profit institutions, located in Japan, bioresources containing these FPs expired in Japan without incurring a part of the license fee.

However, for bioresource containing DsRed Monomer for which patents are still valid, we have to continue to ask you to bear a part of the license fees. If you have any questions about this FP or its use in for-profit institutions, please contact: licensing@takarabio.com

For questions on specific resources, please contact the appropriate BRC Division:

If you have any questions regarding the use of bioresources with FPs, please contact Kusayama at Center Director Office, RIKEN BRC (tsukuba-mta@ml.riken.jp)

FPs bioresource list

Please use the Exclusive MTA for each resource

• MTA ( PDF / Word )
• Clontech Limited Use Label License