You may be interested in a 3-party Online Escrow agreement.

Below we explain what exactly that means:

3 Parties: the Escrow arrangement applies to a specific combination of Software Supplier and User. This is in contrast to a Collective Agreement, in which several Users can be registered as a Beneficiary.

Online: The Supplier supplies the Source Code deposit online in our SecureStorage. SecureStorage is a dedicated infrastructure developed by us. This is approached by the Supplier via VPN and files are transferred via SFTP. Before the deposit is uploaded, it is encrypted by the Supplier. The encryption key is sent by the Supplier to the Beneficiary and NOT to Softcrow. This creates a situation where we have a deposit which we can not access without the help of the Supplier and/or the Beneficiary. The Beneficiary has a key but can not access the deposit. Only when the deposit has to be released the Beneficiary receives the necessary credentials (password, user id) to log in. SecureStorage storage is build within Dutch data centers.

Verification: In order to establish that the deposits in SecureStorage can actually lead to a working system, a so-called verification examiniation is possible. This verification is always optional at the request of the Beneficiary. Since a part of Softcrow’s work is also assessed, the verification is carried out by an external IT auditor. In cooperation with the Supplier, the auditor will determine whether the deposit can be retrieved from the SecureStorage, whether the deposit can be decrypted with the key made available to the Beneficiary and whether a working environment can actually be built.

Costs: the costs (excluding VAT) involved in setting up and continuing an Online Escrow are listed in the table below. Whether we invoice the costs to the Beneficiary or to the Supplier is a choice. A distribution is also possible (for example the one-off costs for the Supplier and the annual costs for the Beneficiary).