Effective Date: 2026-05-31 Operator: Heliopolis Creative and Culture Limited (Hong Kong) Contact: legal@catalpasatelier.com
These Terms are a legal agreement between you and Heliopolis Creative and Culture Limited ("Catalpas Atelier", "we", or "us"). They cover catalpasatelier.com and its product documentation subdomain, your Catalpas Atelier account and subscription, and any desktop software we make available under that account (currently the Catalpas Atelier Scribe desktop application; we may add or replace products such as Scroll or Script under the same account over time, in which case these Terms or an updated version of them will apply).
By creating an account, purchasing a subscription, or installing the software, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the services or install the software. If you are using the services on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you have authority to bind that organisation, and "you" then means both you and the organisation.
Please also read our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle personal information.
You must be legally able to enter into a binding agreement where you live. If you are under the age of majority, you may use the services only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian.
You agree to provide accurate account information, keep your credentials confidential, and update your details when they change. You are responsible for activity under your account unless that activity is the result of our failure to use reasonable security measures. We may refuse, suspend, or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, create legal risk, or interfere with other users.
You may use catalpasatelier.com for lawful purposes related to evaluating, buying, learning about, or getting support for our products. You may not interfere with the website or its infrastructure, attempt unauthorised access to accounts or systems, scrape or harvest content in a way that burdens the site or violates the law, misrepresent your identity, or use the site to distribute malware, spam, phishing, or unlawful content.
Subject to your compliance with these Terms and payment of any applicable fees, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable licence to download, install, and use the software included in your plan (currently Scribe) for your own personal, professional, or internal business writing and publishing work during your subscription. This is a licence, not a sale, and we and our licensors retain all rights not expressly granted to you.
You must not, and must not allow anyone else to: copy, distribute, rent, lease, lend, sell, sublicense, or commercially host the software except as we expressly allow in writing; reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, modify, or create derivative works of the software, except to the limited extent the law forbids us from restricting that; remove or alter copyright, trademark, licensing, or security notices; bypass or tamper with authentication, subscription verification, licensing, update, or security controls; share, sell, transfer, or pool accounts unless the plan expressly permits it; use automated tools to create accounts, test stolen credentials, or overload our servers; or use the software or services to break the law, infringe intellectual property, distribute malware, or harm others.
A subscription may be offered on a monthly, yearly, or other stated billing cycle, and may cover a single product or a bundle of products. The exact features, device counts, and price of each plan are shown at checkout. Payments are processed by Stripe (or another processor we identify at checkout); we never see or store your full card number or card security code. The desktop software itself does not process payments — it only verifies your subscription status through your account.
By purchasing, you authorise the payment processor to charge your payment method for the selected plan, any taxes that apply, and recurring renewal charges until you cancel. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period unless you cancel beforehand. Cancellation stops future renewals but does not, on its own, refund the current paid period, except as set out below or as required by law. You may keep using paid features until the end of the period already paid for, unless your account is terminated for breach.
For new subscriptions, we offer a 14-day refund window from the date of first purchase of a given plan, unless a different rule is clearly shown at checkout or required by law. Within that window you can request a refund through our support channel without giving a reason. If you are a consumer in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction that grants a statutory right of withdrawal for digital services, you have a separate statutory right to withdraw from a distance contract within 14 days. Because our subscription gives you immediate access to digital content, at checkout you will be asked to expressly request immediate performance of the contract and to acknowledge that, once performance begins, your statutory right of withdrawal will no longer apply. Where you give that consent, the statutory right falls away; our voluntary 14-day refund policy above still applies on its own terms. After the refund window, refunds are generally not provided except where the law requires it, where we confirm a material defect that we cannot reasonably fix in reasonable time, or where we agree to make an exception in writing. Nothing here limits mandatory consumer rights that cannot be waived.
We may change subscription prices, plan names, features, or billing terms. We will give at least 30 days' notice of material price increases applicable to your next renewal, by email or in-product notice; if you do not agree, you can cancel before the change takes effect. Where we have promised an early-access or founder price lock in writing, we will honour it on its stated conditions.
We may issue updates, patches, compatibility fixes, security fixes, and feature changes. Some updates may be necessary to keep using online account, subscription, or licensing features. We may add, modify, suspend, or remove features. We will try to avoid materially reducing core paid functionality during an active subscription period, but may make changes for security, compliance, reliability, or operational reasons.
You own what you create. We do not claim ownership of manuscripts, notes, outlines, images, PDFs, exports, or other creative work that you create or import into the software.
Scribe is designed as a local-first desktop application. Unless we expressly introduce a separate cloud feature, or release additional software with a different architecture, and have updated the applicable terms and privacy notices, your project files stay on your device: we do not upload, host, publish, share, sell, train AI models on, or analyse your local writing content by default, and we do not currently provide cloud sync or AI content analysis. You are responsible for keeping your own local backups and for ensuring your content does not violate the law or the rights of others. If we later offer cloud sync, collaboration, AI assistance, backup, or remote publishing features, we will provide updated terms before those features touch your content.
The services, software (including Scribe), website, source code, designs, interface, workflows, trademarks, logos, documentation, and related materials are owned by us or our licensors and are protected by intellectual property and other laws. You may not use our trademarks, logos, product names, or branding in a way that suggests endorsement, affiliation, or sponsorship without our written permission.
You agree not to use the services or the software to break the law or any regulation; to infringe copyrights, trademarks, privacy or publicity rights, trade secrets, or other rights; to create, distribute, or facilitate malware, credential theft, spam, fraud, or platform abuse; to harass, threaten, defame, or harm others; to circumvent access, subscription, security, or technical protection measures; or to interfere with the normal operation of the services or another user's use of them.
We aim to provide reliable services, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation. The services may be unavailable because of maintenance, updates, network failures, vendor outages, security incidents, force majeure events, or other reasons outside our reasonable control. Early-access, beta, experimental, preview, or evaluation features may be incomplete, unstable, or changed or removed at any time; they are provided for testing and feedback unless we say otherwise.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, the services and the software are provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise. We do not warrant that the services or software will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, compatible with every device or operating system, or suitable for a particular writing, publishing, commercial, legal, tax, or professional outcome.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Catalpas Atelier and its directors, officers, employees, contractors, affiliates, and suppliers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, lost goodwill, lost data, business interruption, or the cost of substitute services. Our total liability arising out of or relating to the services, the software, or these Terms will not exceed the greater of (a) the fees you paid us for the services during the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) one hundred US dollars (US$100).
Nothing in this section excludes warranties, guarantees, or rights that cannot be excluded under applicable law, and nothing limits liability that cannot legally be limited — for example, liability for fraud or intentional misconduct, or mandatory consumer rights where they apply.
To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Catalpas Atelier from claims, damages, liabilities, losses, and expenses arising from your unlawful use of the services, your breach of these Terms, your content, or your violation of third-party rights. This obligation does not apply to the extent a claim is caused by our breach of these Terms or our unlawful conduct.
You may stop using the services at any time and may cancel your subscription as described in Section 4. We may suspend or terminate your account, subscription, licence, or access to the services if you materially breach these Terms, fail to pay fees, create legal or security risk, attempt to crack or bypass licensing, abuse the services, or where we are required to do so by law. On termination, your licence to use paid features ends. Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive — including intellectual property, payment obligations, warranty disclaimer, limitation of liability, indemnity, governing law, and dispute provisions.
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. If mandatory consumer protection laws in your country or region give you additional rights, nothing in these Terms is intended to limit those rights.
Please contact us first at support@catalpasatelier.com so that we can try to resolve any dispute informally. If a dispute cannot be resolved informally, you and we agree that the courts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will have jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory consumer rights or local court rights that cannot be waived under applicable law. Nothing in this clause deprives a consumer of the protection of mandatory rules of the law of their habitual residence, including any right to bring proceedings against us in the courts of the consumer's place of residence where applicable law grants that right (for example, under Brussels Ia Regulation Articles 17-19 for consumers domiciled in the European Union). These Terms do not require mandatory arbitration, and either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to protect intellectual property, confidential information, account security, licensing systems, or platform integrity.
We may assign these Terms as part of a merger, acquisition, reorganisation, sale of assets, or transfer of the services. You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent, except where mandatory law allows otherwise. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in effect; failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any order, checkout, plan, or written policy incorporated by reference, are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the services.
Heliopolis Creative and Culture Limited Email: legal@catalpasatelier.com (legal) / support@catalpasatelier.com (support) Address: Unit B, 12/F, No. 28 Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
