Welcome to CinePal (“we,” “our,” or “us”). Please read these Terms of Service (“Terms”) carefully before using our website, applications, or services (collectively, the “Service”). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not access or use the Service.
1. Description of Service
CinePal provides an entertainment discovery platform that filters, categorises, and recommends movies and television series based on user emotional moods, preferences, and inputs. The Service includes social synchronization features (“CinePal Sync”) allowing multiple users to cross-reference saved movie metadata (“Watchlists”) for viewing synchronization.
2. Third-Party Links, Streaming Platforms, and Affiliation
To ensure structural legal separation from the media displayed on our platform, you explicitly acknowledge and agree to the following:
- No Content Hosting: CinePal is strictly a recommendation, review, and index engine. We do not host, stream, broadcast, or transmit any video, audio, or copyrighted film content directly on our servers.
- Third-Party Redirection: The Service displays links, buttons, and badges directing you to external third-party streaming providers, digital storefronts, or physical cinemas (such as Netflix, Showmax, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Filmhouse Cinemas, etc.).
- Independent Relationships: These external platforms are entirely independent entities. CinePal exercises zero operational control over their subscription fees, regional availability, content licensing agreements, or technical performance. Any transaction, rental, or subscription you execute on an external platform is governed strictly by that third party's legal agreements.
- Affiliate Disclosure: CinePal contains commercial, sponsored content, and affiliate tracking links. When you click outbound buttons to rent or stream a title, we may earn a micro-commission or referral credit from the target platform. This monetization structure does not impact your cost or access terms on those platforms.
3. User Accounts and Data Privacy
- Account Security: To access specific features like your personal “Film Diary,” Watchlists, or the CinePal Sync engine, you must register an account. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activities occurring under your profile.
- Account Data Ownership: You retain ownership of the text reviews and ratings you publish on CinePal. However, by posting content, you grant CinePal a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to display, distribute, or modify your text reviews natively on the platform.
- The “Sync Link” Authorization: When you trigger a long-distance room link via CinePal Sync, you are explicitly authorizing our backend system to share a temporary read-only array of your saved Movie/TV Show IDs with the user who accesses your unique room token. No private personal data, emails, or password hashes are ever transmitted or exposed during this automated handshake.
4. Intellectual Property and Copyright (DMCA / Trademarks)
- Platform Assets: All UI code, UX designs, branding, logos, the name “CinePal,” the phrase “CinePal Sync,” and custom algorithmic mood mappings are the exclusive intellectual property of CinePal.
- Media Assets Disclaimer: All movie posters, promotional stills, cast photography, synopses, and crew names displayed natively on our Service are pulled via public metadata engines (such as the TMDB API) and are used under Fair Use principles for identification, commentary, and informational purposes. The legal copyrights for these visual assets remain strictly with their original production studios, distribution houses, and creators.
- Copyright Infringement Notification: If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe that any text or metadata review on our site infringes upon your copyright, you may submit a formal takedown request to our administration support queue, and the offending material will be investigated and removed instantly.
5. Limitation of Liability and “As-Is” Provision
- No Warranty: CinePal is provided entirely on an “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” basis without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. We do not guarantee that emotional recommendations will perfectly satisfy your personal tastes, or that outbound streaming links will permanently align with live, real-time regional licenses.
- Liability Cap: To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, CinePal, its developers, or its administrators shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages arising out of your reliance on our platform notifications, third-party rental links, or long-distance server sync errors.
6. Modifications to the Terms
We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify, update, or replace these Terms at any time to reflect structural feature additions or local compliance laws. Your continued use of the platform after the posting of any changes constitutes binding acceptance of those updated terms.