Researcher A collected (under the PI researcher B and founded by 2 universities centers X and Y) insect samples by herself and other members 10 years ago and preserved in them formaldehydel. 10 years later, researcher A provided to post doc researcher C only the samples (not any data) to work on it. Researcher C get interesting results but researcher A and PI B refuse (conflict of interest or any other personal reasons) to give any authorization or any approval to allow researcher C to publish the results ( ONly researcher C would be the unique author of the research).
I would like to know who owns the samples? Does researcher C need approval for publishing to the researcher A or/and the PI researcher B or/and the research center (X and /or Y)? or no approval is needed as samples were already given by research A and is assumed by researcher B that the fact that researcher A has already given the samples, it is sufficient justification and assume theses samples can be used for publication?
Many thanks for your reply!!