[DIYbio] Re: Everyone's Opinion on Offering MTAed Plasmids

I have a decent collection of plasmids that have been obtained from a variety of sources. Some were obtained through other people and they signed of Materials Transfer Agreements (MTA), so technically I am already illegal. Usually these agreements state that the materials cannot be given to others without the other people also signing these MTAs. I guess I could collect MTAs from people and work with each institution that the plasmid is from to deliver those MTAs but the time and cost of that could be substantial.

From these MTAs what happens is that access to these plasmids, which in and of themselves have little or no value, becomes restricted both physically and monetarily.

At my Biohacking Store The ODIN, I want to start offering a wider variety of plasmids developed in Scientific labs but I am somewhat wary of the possible repercussions. Most strains I send to people for $5 + shipping, which is a far cry from the $65 of addgene. Do people think these plasmids and strains would be helpful? All of the plasmids were created through government funding and so should be available anyways? What repercussions are there? There are no monetary damages and such because the plasmids are published, non-patented and not offered by the university.

Example plasmids/strains:
A bacterial CRISPR/Cas9 system that includes a positive control
Different fluorescent proteins
&c.

Any help or insights would be appreciated.

Thanks,
     Josiah