Organisation
What does OSE offer?
As long as there are conflicts of interest between business partners in relation to digital assets, escrow services will be needed. In addition, new technologies are favouring the creation and use of digital assets, meaning that the demand for escrow solutions will increase.
Against this backdrop, continuous dialogue on current topics and the exchange of experience between escrow service providers is becoming increasingly important. The association plays a decisive role here as a lobby and discussion platform. The events and the network support members in exchanging information, gaining new insights and benefiting from the experience of their colleagues.
OSE supports its members in areas such as protecting investments in software and IT, promoting the development of standards and helping to create a legal framework. In this way, as well as through public relations work and accompanying marketing activities, the visibility of escrow services is being increased more and more.
Association goals
The purpose of the association is the comprehensive promotion of software escrow (deposit of source code), in particular the interests of users and providers of software escrow as well as service and consulting companies in the field of source code deposit.
Our key points are:
Clarification
Systematic education on the subject of protecting investments in software and IT in the interests of a functioning economy.
Marketing
Representing the interests of members and increasing awareness of Escrow through presentations, public relations work and marketing co-operation.
Standards
Developing standards and thereby ensuring consistently high quality of escrow services provided by member companies.
Legal security
Ensuring an appropriate legal framework and helping to create binding legal certainty.
The Board of Directors of OSE
The board of the organisation pro Software Escrow e.V. currently consists of 4 elected members.
Stephan Peters
Christian R. Kast
Stephan Peters
Deposix Software Escrow GmbH
stephan.peters(at)ose-international.org
Professional experience:
- Co-founder and managing partner of Deposix Software Escrow GmbH (Munich) and Deposix Software Escrow LLC (California)
- Co-founder and VP for Business Development of WebToGo GmbH (mobile ISP provider), Munich
- Consultant for Booz Allen & Hamilton (international management consultancy), Munich
- Consultant for Accenture (international technology consultancy), Frankfurt/London/Paris
- Freelance consultant for IT and organisation, e.g. for Höchst and Mercedes Benz in Quito and Buenos Aires, South America
Training & Contact
- MBA (Master of Business Administration), Columbia Business School, 2001, NY
- Dipl.-Informatiker (FH), European Business School, 1992, Frankfurt/London/San Diego
Function in the association:
Chairman
Contact details:
stephan.peters(at)deposix.de
+49-89-189-1255-0
Dr. Philipp Süss, LL.M.
Philipp is a partner in the Munich office and a member of Reed Smith LLP’s Entertainment & Media Industry Group. Philipp has broad expertise in the digital sector. With more than two decades of experience, he has a strong focus on cross-border projects and complex contracts. In the digital space, his dynamic practice includes cloud, mobile and e-commerce, Internet of Things, AI and 4IR frameworks as well as virtual reality, metaverse and data economy. In general, he covers information technology, outsourcing, telecoms and data protection.
Philipp’s clients include large international industrial companies from the high-tech sector as well as specialised SMEs, highly innovative start-ups and incubators. Finally, he has extensive experience in aviation and is active in international arbitration.
Philipp is a member of Reed Smith’s business teams for Russia and Israel. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences in the digital sector.
Training & Contact
Dr. jur., Universität Bonn, 1998
Master of Laws Degree (LL.M.), King’s College London, 1997
Law faculties of the Universities of Bonn and Marburg
Function in the association:
Deputy Chairman
Contact details:
psuess(at)reedsmith.com
+49 (0)89 20304 151
Christian Kast
Professional experience:
- Lawyer and specialist lawyer for information technology law at Anwaltscontor Munich (since 1996)
- Associate at Noerr, Berlin (1994-1996)
- Regional representative for Bavaria, German Bar Association, Information Technology Working Group (davit)
Training & Contact
- Legal clerkship and 2nd state examination in Munich
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Function in the association:
Member of the Executive Board
Contact details:
kast(at)anwaltscontor.de
+49-89-189-3537-10
Christian Weitzel
Partner at HSW Rechtsanwälte
Specialist lawyer for information technology law
Professional experience:
- Double degree in law and computer science
- Profound industry experience due to 10 years working for an international technology group
- Specialising in IT law (especially outsourcing and large IT projects) and corporate law
- Entrepreneurial experience through secondary activities as supervisory board member and managing director
Training & Contact
- Studied computer science at the University of Hagen (1986 – 1990)
- Studied law at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, worked as a lecturer and gained a doctorate (1985 – 1997)
- Lawyer at Blume, Issleib and Rack in Frankfurt (1997 – 1998)
- Various positions at the international technology group Giesecke+Devrient in Munich (1998 – 2009)
- Lawyer and partner as well as head of the IT law practice group at the Munich office of Büsing, Müffelmann & Theye (2009 – 2020)
- Lawyer at HARDER Rechtsanwälte (2020 – 2022)
- Founding partner of the law firm HSW Rechtsanwälte (since 2022)
Function in the association:
Member of the board
Contact details:
HSW Rechtsanwälte
Maximilianstraße 38
D-80539 München
weitzel(at)hsw.law
+49 (0)89 2870070
More information
OSE Summer Talk
The OSE Summer Talk is an annual event in Berlin in the summer.
OSE Symposium
The OSE Symposium takes place every year in January in Munich.
Software Escrow
Find out more about the definition of software escrow.
5 reasons to become a member of OSE
Benefits of OSE membership
Escrow solutions offer protection and security for your own investments. They can also serve as confidence-building measures between providers and users. And they are an important building block for quality assurance and improvement.
OSE provides support,
- Developing and establishing standards.
- Helping to shape the legal framework.
- Ensuring and optimising the quality of escrow solutions.
- Providing escrow advisors with information on the benefits and handling of escrow solutions.
- To provide tips on timing in an exchange of experience: When is the best time to include an escrow solution in contract negotiations between two business partners.
Membership fees
The membership fee is calculated on a monthly basis for the calendar year.
Category 1
Law firms and companies- Full membership
- Five (5) named persons can utilise the benefits of membership.
Category 2
Universities and institutions- Three (3) named persons may utilise the benefits of membership.
Category 3
Law firms and companies- Membership
- Two (2) named persons can utilise the benefits of membership.
Category 4
Lawyers and individual lawyers, experts, individuals- Only the member himself can use the benefits of membership in the OSE organisation per escrow.
Category 5
Trainee lawyers, students and apprentices- Against proof; only the member himself can use the benefits, max. 3 years, then automatic categorisation in Cat. 4.
Category 4
Lawyers and individual lawyers, experts, individuals- Only the member himself can utilise the benefits of membership.
Category 5
Trainee lawyers, students and apprentices- Against proof; only the member himself can use the benefits of membership, for a maximum of 3 years, after which he is automatically categorised in category 4.
Become a member now
If you are interested in becoming a member of the organisation pro Software Escrow e.V., please fill in the following form and send it by email to
info(at)ose-international.org
Get in touch with us
Organisation pro Software Escrow e.V.
Innere Wiener Straße 11a, 81667 München
+49 176 44 20 59 58
info(at)ose-international.org
