Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between NovelHour — the entity operating NovelHour ("NovelHour," "we," "us," or "our") — and you ("you" or "user"), governing your access to and use of the NovelHour application, website, and related products and services (collectively, "the Service").

By accessing or using the Service, you:

  • • Acknowledge that you have read and understood these Terms;
  • • Agree to be bound by them and by our Privacy Policy and Refund Policy, which are incorporated herein by reference;
  • • Agree to comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you must stop using the Service immediately.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction, whichever is higher) to use the Service.

By using the Service, you represent and warrant that:

  • • You meet the age requirement;
  • • You have full legal capacity to enter into this agreement;
  • • All information you provide is accurate, current, and truthful;
  • • Your use of the Service will not violate any applicable law or regulation.

We reserve the right to request age verification and to suspend or terminate any account we reasonably believe belongs to a person who does not meet these requirements.

3. Account Registration

To access certain features, you may be required to create an account using your:

  • • Phone number
  • • Email address
  • • Password
  • • Nickname or display name

You agree to:

  • • Provide accurate and complete registration information;
  • • Keep your login credentials confidential;
  • • Be solely responsible for all activities conducted under your account;
  • • Notify us immediately at novelhoursupport@gmail.com if you suspect any unauthorized access or use.

We reserve the right to refuse registration, or to suspend or terminate accounts, at our sole discretion, including where we suspect fraud, abuse, or violation of these Terms.

4. User Responsibilities

When using the Service, you agree NOT to:

4.1 Use the Service for any illegal, harmful, fraudulent, or unauthorized purpose.

4.2 Upload, post, transmit, or share content that is:

  • • Pornographic involving minors, or otherwise unlawful sexual content;
  • • Violent, discriminatory, or that promotes hatred against any group;
  • • Defamatory, abusive, harassing, or threatening;
  • • Infringing on the intellectual property, privacy, or other rights of others;
  • • Spam, unauthorized advertising, or malicious content.

4.3 Interfere with the operation, security, or integrity of the Service, including:

  • • Attempting to hack, reverse-engineer, decompile, or modify the platform;
  • • Uploading malware, viruses, or harmful scripts;
  • • Engaging in automated data scraping, harvesting, or crawling without our written permission.

4.4 Use another user's account without permission, or share, sell, or transfer your account.

4.5 Misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person or entity.

4.6 Circumvent, disable, or interfere with any payment, security, or access-control mechanism.

Any violation may result in immediate suspension or permanent termination of your account, forfeiture of unused balances to the extent permitted by law, and, where applicable, referral to law-enforcement authorities.

5. User-Generated Content (UGC)

The Service may allow users to post comments, reviews, uploaded images, profile photos, and other written, audio, or visual content ("UGC").

By posting UGC, you represent and agree that:

5.1 You own the rights to, or have obtained all necessary permissions and licenses for, the content;

5.2 Your content does not violate any law or the rights of any third party;

5.3 You grant NovelHour (the entity operating NovelHour) a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to host, use, store, display, reproduce, modify (for formatting purposes), and distribute such content for the purpose of operating, promoting, and improving the Service. This license survives termination with respect to content already shared with other users or reasonably retained in backups.

You are solely responsible for your UGC. We have the right, but not the obligation, to review, moderate, remove, or restrict any UGC at any time, without notice, for any reason.

6. Intellectual Property Rights

All content and materials made available through the Service — including but not limited to text, images, logos, trademarks, designs, software, book content, and platform data — are owned by NovelHour (the entity operating NovelHour) or its licensors and are protected under copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.

Except as expressly permitted, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, distribute, sell, publicly display, or create derivative works from any part of the Service without our prior express written permission.

We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Service for your own personal, non-commercial use, subject to these Terms.

7. Purchases, Payments, and Refunds

7.1 Fees and Payment Processing

Certain features or content require payment. Before you are charged, you will have an opportunity to review the applicable fees. All fees are stated in the currency shown at checkout and, unless otherwise stated, are exclusive of applicable taxes.

All payments are processed exclusively by third-party providers, including but not limited to Apple In-App Purchases, Google Play Payments, and PayPal. We do not directly collect, process, or store your payment-card details. You agree to provide accurate payment information to the relevant provider and to be bound by that provider's applicable payment terms.

7.2 Third-Party Platform Purchases

Purchases made through Apple App Store or Google Play are subject to those platforms' own terms and refund policies, which control over this section to the extent of any conflict.

7.3 Refunds

In general, subscription fees, virtual currency / coins, and — in particular — any paid content you have unlocked through in-app purchases / website / mobile-web recharge and have engaged in reading activity are non-refundable, except where required by applicable law or where a verified technical fault attributable to us prevents access.

The complete terms governing eligibility, how to request a refund, non-refundable items, and processing times are set out in our Refund Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. In the event of any conflict between this Section and the Refund Policy, the Refund Policy prevails.

7.4 Chargebacks

Initiating a chargeback or payment dispute without first contacting us may result in suspension of your account pending resolution.

8. Account Termination

We may terminate or suspend your account at any time, with or without prior notice, if:

  • • You violate these Terms;
  • • You engage in illegal, fraudulent, or harmful activities;
  • • You misuse the Service;
  • • Termination is required by law or by a government or judicial authority.

You may request account deletion at any time by contacting us at novelhoursupport@gmail.com, or via any in-app "Delete Account" function where available.

After account termination or deletion:

  • • You lose access to all content, features, and any unused balances, to the extent permitted by law;
  • • Previously purchased content may not be retrievable;
  • • Some data may be retained where required by law or for our legitimate business interests (e.g., fraud prevention, tax, and audit obligations).

9. Service Availability and Modifications

We reserve the right to:

  • • Modify, update, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service;
  • • Introduce new features or remove existing ones;
  • • Perform maintenance at any time;
  • • Change the appearance, structure, or content of the platform.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any service interruption, data loss, delayed access, or technical failure.

10. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Service is provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we make no warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, non-infringement, and data accuracy or reliability. You use the Service at your own risk.

11. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

  • • NovelHour (the entity operating NovelHour) shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, data, goodwill, or other intangible losses;
  • • We are not responsible for losses resulting from service downtime, unauthorized access, user misconduct, data breaches beyond our reasonable control, or third-party payment-system errors.

Our total aggregate liability to any user for any and all claims shall not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount you paid to us in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) USD 100.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations; in such cases, the above limitations apply to the fullest extent permitted.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless NovelHour (the entity operating NovelHour) and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to your UGC, your use of the Service, or your violation of these Terms or any law or third-party right.

13. Third-Party Services

The Service may contain links to, or integrations with, third-party platforms. We are not responsible for the content, privacy policies, practices, security, or actions of any third-party site or service. Your use of third-party services is at your own risk.

14. Data Protection and Privacy

Your use of the Service is also governed by our Privacy Policy (Part 2), which is incorporated into these Terms. By using the Service, you consent to the collection, use, and processing of your personal data as described in the Privacy Policy.

15. Copyright Infringement Claims

If you believe your copyrighted work has been infringed on the Service, please contact us at novelhoursupport@gmail.com with:

  • • Your name and contact information;
  • • Proof of ownership or authorization;
  • • The URL or a description of the allegedly infringing content;
  • • A statement of good-faith belief that the use is unauthorized.

We will process valid removal requests in accordance with applicable law.

16. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Hong Kong, unless mandatory consumer-protection law provides otherwise.

17. Changes to These Terms

We may amend or update these Terms at any time. If changes are significant, we will notify users via email or platform notice. Your continued use of the Service after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

18. Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at: novelhoursupport@gmail.com