Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and Morningstar — also referred to as “مورنينج ستار” or “نجمة الصباح” (the “Platform”, “we”, “us”, “our”) — based in the Arab Republic of Egypt. By creating an account, accessing, or using the Platform at morningstareg.com, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated here by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.

You must be at least 18 years old and have full legal capacity to enter into binding agreements under Egyptian law to use the Platform. By using the Platform you represent that you meet these requirements. If you are using the Platform on behalf of a business or organization — for example, as a gallery or production company — you represent that you have authority to bind that entity to these Terms.

Registration requires a valid name, email address, phone number, and password. You agree to provide accurate, current information, to keep it up to date, and to keep your password confidential. You are responsible for all activity that takes place under your account. You agree to notify us at support@morningstareg.com without delay if you suspect any unauthorized access. We may suspend or terminate accounts that show signs of fraud, abuse, or breach of these Terms.

The Platform supports five roles, each with different rights and obligations:

• Artist — uploads, sells, and licenses artworks; receives payouts; subject to artist obligations in Section 6.
• Collector — browses and purchases artworks and requests commissions; subject to collector terms in Section 7.
• Gallery — represents artists and may claim specific artworks (subject to artist approval), becoming the seller of record for those artworks; subject to gallery terms in Section 10.
• Production company — film, television, and advertising companies that rent artworks for shoots; subject to rental terms in Section 9.
• Admin — Morningstar staff with operational responsibilities for moderation, dispute resolution, and Platform management.

You agree to use only the role appropriate to you and to comply with the obligations of that role.

Artists may subscribe to the Standard plan (150 EGP/month or 1,530 EGP/year — a 15% discount) or the Premium plan (250 EGP/month or 2,550 EGP/year). Galleries pay 500 EGP/month or 5,100 EGP/year. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period unless cancelled in advance through your account settings.

Trial subscriptions granted by Morningstar give artists full access without payment until their first sale, at which point payment is required to continue listing artworks for sale. Gifted subscriptions are provided at Morningstar’s discretion and do not require payment.

If your subscription lapses or is cancelled, your existing artworks remain in our records but will be hidden from the public gallery until the subscription is renewed. Subscription refunds are not offered as a standard policy and are considered case by case at our discretion.

By listing an artwork on the Platform you represent and warrant that:

• You own all copyright and other intellectual-property rights in the artwork, or you have all necessary licenses, permissions, and rights to upload, list, sell, and license it through the Platform.
• The artwork is your original creation and does not infringe on the rights of any third party.
• All information you provide about the artwork (title, medium, dimensions, year, edition, materials, condition, price) is accurate and truthful.
• You have the legal right to sell the physical work you have listed.

You set the price of each artwork in Egyptian pounds (EGP) and may change it at any time. You retain 100% of the listed sale price, subject to applicable Egyptian withholding tax (Section 12). You may mark artworks as “portfolio only” to display them on your public profile without offering them for sale.

When you purchase an artwork on the Platform you are buying the physical work from the artist or, in the case of gallery-claimed artworks, from the gallery acting as the seller. You are not acquiring the copyright or any reproduction rights unless those rights are separately and explicitly transferred to you in writing.

After you place an order, the artist quotes a shipping cost within 48 hours. You may then accept the quote and pay through Paymob, choose Cash on Delivery (COD) where available, or cancel the order before payment. Once payment is made, funds are held in escrow by Morningstar (see Section 11) and released to the artist after delivery has been confirmed. You may confirm receipt or raise a dispute through the Platform; details of the dispute process are in Section 17.

For COD orders, both you and the artist must confirm the cash exchange on the Platform before the order is considered settled.

Collectors may request custom commissions from artists who have opted in. Once you submit a request, the artist may accept, decline, contact you to discuss, or set an agreed price. After payment, funds are held in escrow until the artist marks the commission complete, at which point the funds are released to the artist (Section 11).

Morningstar is not a party to the underlying commission agreement between you and the artist. We provide the messaging, payment, and escrow infrastructure but do not warrant the artist’s performance or the suitability of the commissioned work. Disputes are handled under Section 17.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing between you and the artist, the artist retains all copyright in the commissioned work and you receive only the physical or digital deliverable as described in the request.

Production companies may rent artworks listed as “available for rent” on the Platform. The rental request is sent to the artist, who responds with a quote consisting of (a) a rental fee, and (b) an insurance amount equal to the full value of the artwork. Once the production company accepts and pays, the entire amount is held in escrow.

The production company is responsible for the artwork during the rental period, including insurance, transportation, handling, and safekeeping. On safe return, confirmed by the artist via a return condition report, the rental fee is paid to the artist (less withholding under Section 12) and the insurance amount is refunded to the production company.

If the artwork is damaged or lost, the artist may report damage during the return process. Disputes about condition are resolved by Morningstar under three outcomes: safe return (rental fee to artist, insurance refunded), partial damage (rental fee plus damage compensation to artist, balance refunded), or total loss (artist receives the full insurance amount as compensation).

Galleries are physical art galleries that subscribe to the Platform to represent artists and offer their work for sale. A gallery may invite specific artists to join its roster and may submit a claim on a specific artwork. The artist must approve any claim. Once a claim is approved, the gallery becomes the seller of record for that artwork and assumes responsibility for fulfillment, shipping, and customer service.

A gallery’s claims and seller status depend on an active subscription. If a gallery’s subscription lapses, claimed artworks revert to the artist as the seller until the gallery’s subscription is renewed.

All on-platform payments are processed by Paymob, our third-party payment processor. Morningstar is not a bank, payment institution, or money-services business. Funds collected through the Platform for sales, commissions, and rentals are held by Morningstar in escrow and released to the recipient (artist or gallery) only after fulfillment is confirmed (delivery, completion, or safe return).

Payouts are made manually via Instapay or bank transfer to the bank-account information you provide in your profile. We aim to release payouts promptly after escrow becomes releasable but cannot guarantee specific processing times.

For Cash on Delivery (COD) orders, no funds pass through Morningstar; the cash exchange happens directly between collector and artist, and both parties must confirm the exchange on the Platform.

Paymob, the banks involved, and any other payment service may charge transaction fees that are deducted from the gross amount. Morningstar does not charge a separate Platform commission on artwork sales beyond what is necessary to process the transaction.

You are responsible for declaring and paying your own income tax and any other taxes applicable to your activity on the Platform.

For artists who have not provided a Tax Registration Number (سجل ضريبي), Morningstar applies Egyptian withholding tax to payouts: 1% on the gross amount of artwork sales (treated as goods) and 3% on rental fees (treated as services). Tax-registered artists are not subject to platform-applied withholding. The withheld amount is not retained by Morningstar; it represents tax that is paid to the Egyptian Tax Authority on the artist’s behalf.

A withholding certificate documenting any tax withheld on a payout is generated when escrow funds are released. You may request copies at any time by emailing support@morningstareg.com. These certificates serve as supporting documentation when you file your personal income-tax return.

Rental invoices include 14% Value Added Tax (VAT). Subscription invoices may include 14% VAT once Morningstar has crossed the relevant Egyptian VAT registration threshold; until then, no VAT is charged on subscriptions. Morningstar provides annual income summaries on request.

You retain all copyright and other intellectual-property rights in the works you upload. By uploading an artwork to the Platform, you grant Morningstar a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, reproduce, display, distribute, and create derivative works of the artwork — including its images, captions, and metadata — for the purpose of operating, promoting, and marketing the Platform and the artists who use it.

This marketing license includes use on the Platform itself, on Morningstar’s social-media accounts, in press and earned-media coverage, in paid advertising (including but not limited to social-media advertising), and in physical exhibitions, pop-up galleries, and similar showcases that Morningstar organizes or participates in.

The marketing license does not give Morningstar the right to sell originals or limited-edition prints of your work outside the Platform’s normal sales workflow, or to assign your work to any third party except as described in Section 14.

Buyers of artwork acquire the physical work only and do not receive any copyright or reproduction rights unless those rights are separately transferred in writing.

In addition to the marketing license in Section 13, while you have an active account on Morningstar you grant Morningstar a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to use the artworks you have uploaded — including their images, captions in any language, and all associated metadata — for the purposes of building, evaluating, and licensing artificial-intelligence and machine-learning datasets to third parties on commercial terms. You will not receive separate compensation for this use; this license is granted as a condition of using the Platform.

If you close your account or remove an artwork, Morningstar will stop including that artwork in any newly compiled or newly licensed dataset from the date of removal. However, Morningstar cannot recall data, datasets, or models that have already been compiled, licensed, or shared with third parties before that date, and cannot reverse training that has already occurred. Such already-shared data and trained models may continue to be used by their recipients under their own separate terms.

You agree not to upload, list, send, or otherwise transmit any content that:

• Infringes the intellectual-property rights of any third party.
• Is unlawful under Egyptian law, including (without limitation) the Cybercrime Law (Law 175 of 2018), the Anti-Money Laundering Law (Law 80 of 2002), and the Copyright Law (Law 82 of 2002).
• Depicts minors in a sexual or otherwise inappropriate manner.
• Contains hate speech, harassment, threats, or content that incites violence.
• Is materially false or designed to deceive other users — including misrepresenting the authorship, originality, condition, or price of an artwork.
• Is created in whole or in substantial part by a generative-AI model and is offered as original human-created art without disclosure.

You also agree not to use the Platform to commit fraud, launder money, impersonate another person, scrape data in violation of these Terms, circumvent payment or subscription mechanisms, or interfere with the Platform’s normal operation.

We may remove content, suspend accounts, and report serious violations to Egyptian authorities.

You may cancel an order at any time before payment has been made — that is, while it is in pending_quote, pending_confirmation, or quote_provided status. Cancellation restores the artwork to active in the gallery and notifies the other party.

Once payment has been made, refunds are handled through the dispute process described in Section 17 or, where the dispute process does not apply, by request to support@morningstareg.com. Refunds are processed only via the original payment method (Paymob) and are subject to Morningstar’s reasonable discretion based on the facts.

Subscription payments are not refunded as a standard policy. We will consider refund requests on subscription payments case by case at our discretion, and we will honor any refunds required by the Egyptian Consumer Protection Law (Law 181 of 2018).

If you believe an order, rental, or commission has been completed improperly, you may raise a dispute through the Platform within a reasonable time after the relevant event (delivery, return, or commission delivery). When a dispute is raised, the relevant escrow is frozen and Morningstar reviews the evidence submitted by both parties.

For artwork sales, Morningstar resolves disputes by either (a) releasing the held funds to the artist or gallery, or (b) refunding the held funds to the collector through Paymob, depending on the facts.

For production rentals, Morningstar resolves disputes by one of three outcomes (Section 9): safe return, partial damage, or total loss.

Morningstar’s dispute decisions are intended as a first-line resolution mechanism agreed by all parties through these Terms. Nothing in this Section limits your rights under the Egyptian Consumer Protection Law or your right to seek redress in the courts.

You may delete your account at any time through your account settings. Morningstar may suspend or terminate your account immediately for any breach of these Terms, illegal activity, or extended inactivity, or for any other reason that materially harms the Platform or its users.

Account termination does not cancel obligations already incurred (in-flight orders, escrow holdings, outstanding rental returns) or affect any license you have granted to Morningstar for content you uploaded that has already been used in legitimate marketing materials.

The AI dataset license in Section 14 ceases for any newly compiled dataset after termination, subject to the carve-out for already-shared data and trained models described in that Section.

The Platform is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Morningstar makes no warranties, whether express or implied, regarding the Platform — including any warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness, uptime, or freedom from errors. We do not guarantee that any artwork will sell, that any rental will close, that valuations will be correct, or that the artists you encounter on the Platform are who they claim to be (although we make reasonable efforts to verify them).

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Morningstar’s total liability to any user for any claim arising out of or related to these Terms or the Platform is limited to the total amount that user has paid to Morningstar in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim. Morningstar is not liable for any indirect, consequential, incidental, special, or punitive damages — including loss of profits, loss of data, or loss of business opportunity — even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

This Section does not limit any liability that cannot be limited under applicable law (including for fraud, gross negligence, or willful misconduct).

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold Morningstar harmless from any claim, demand, loss, or damage arising out of (a) your breach of these Terms, (b) your infringement of any third-party intellectual-property right or other right, (c) any artwork or content you upload to the Platform, or (d) your activity on the Platform that gives rise to a claim by another party (including tax authorities, collectors, artists, galleries, or production companies).

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Arab Republic of Egypt, without reference to conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts of Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt, except as may otherwise be required by the Egyptian Consumer Protection Law.

These Terms are available in English and Arabic. Both the English and Arabic versions are equally authoritative. If a discrepancy arises between them, the version in the language of the legal proceedings shall prevail.

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated by email to your registered address and through a notice on the Platform at least fourteen (14) days before they take effect. Continued use of the Platform after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page indicates when these Terms were most recently revised.

For questions about these Terms or for any other inquiry, contact us at support@morningstareg.com.