Although at first there was considerable concern that large laboratories might gain an edge over smaller ones through such information sharing, the mechanism has instead been found extremely useful in developing collaborations rather than stimulating competition. One consequence of this view has been a strong pressure to get sequence data, especially ESTs, into the public domain quickly, so that patenting based merely on sequence information becomes difficult or impossible. In other cases for example, novel applications relevant materials and information are not published or deposited until after the patent application is filed, but once this is accomplished there has been a general commitment to sharing the resource. Another aspect of the enforcement question is a second rule, this one requiring sequencing groups to have a member of the national steering committee on the executive committee overseeing their sequencing operation, thus making it difficult for a sequencing lab to keep results secret for very long. There have been no real tests of the consequences for breaking either of these rules, but the assumption is that NSF will discontinue funding if there is a complaint from the community.
Enforcement is more complicated at the international level.
The international steering committee is trying to negotiate the contribution of a collection of mutants made by a consortium in Europe, where strong pressure is being put on scientists by their funding agencies to limit distribution to those willing to cede or share future commercial benefits. Universities are unquestionably subsidizing the enterprise, but the extent and cost-effectiveness of this approach are not known. International components receive support from their own governments and the European Community. The relatively modest amounts required by this project appear to the committee as money well spent, and unlike some of the other case studies examined, current and projected Finding appears adequate. One reason for this seems to be that the services provided appear to be viewed by both the NSF and the Arabidopsis research community as legitimate objects of research support.