Microstage — Terms of Service

Last updated: 6 June 2026 Effective date: 6 June 2026

1. Who we are and what these Terms cover

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") are a binding agreement between Microstage (operator of the website microstage.io) ("Microstage", "we", "us"), and the person or organisation that creates an account or uses the Service ("Customer", "you").

The Service lets exhibitors broadcast a live spoken pitch to visitors' own phones at events, optionally translated in real time, capture visitor email addresses, and send automated follow-up materials. By creating an account, clicking "I agree", running a pilot, or otherwise using the Service, you accept these Terms. If you accept on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you are authorised to bind it.

If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. Definitions

• "Service" — the Microstage platform, including the web dashboard, the listener pages served at microstage.io and related domains, live audio streaming and telephony, real-time translation and captioning, email follow-up delivery, analytics, and any associated APIs and software we make available.
• "Authorized Users" — individuals you permit to access the Service under your account, including presenters and crew members operating live channels ("Presenters").
• "Visitor" — an event attendee who scans a code or opens a listener page to hear a pitch and who may submit their email address or other details.
• "Customer Content" — anything you or your Authorized Users upload, stream, or configure, including pitch audio, decks, one-pagers, demo videos, branding, follow-up email templates, and channel settings.
• "Visitor Data" — personal data of Visitors that the Service collects on your behalf, including email addresses and engagement data (e.g., listen duration, language selected, channel chosen).
• "Order" — your selection of a plan or per-event activation, whether online or via a written quote.
• "DPA" — the Data Processing Agreement at microstage.io/legal/dpa, which is incorporated into these Terms.

3. Accounts and Authorized Users

You must provide accurate registration information and keep it current. You are responsible for all activity under your account and for your Authorized Users' compliance with these Terms. Keep credentials confidential and notify us promptly at legal@microstage.io of any suspected unauthorised access. You must be at least 18 and able to form a binding contract.

4. Right to use the Service

Subject to these Terms and payment of applicable fees, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable right to access and use the Service during your subscription or activated event for your internal business purposes. This is a right to use a hosted service, not a sale or licence of software; we and our licensors retain all rights not expressly granted.

5. Acceptable use

You and your Authorized Users must not, and must not permit anyone to:

• use the Service unlawfully, or to transmit content that is illegal, infringing, defamatory, or harmful;
• broadcast or capture audio of any person without the disclosures and permissions required by law;
• collect Visitor email addresses or other data without a valid legal basis and an appropriate privacy notice (see Section 8);
• send follow-up or marketing messages in breach of applicable anti-spam or electronic-marketing laws (in particular GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive);
• upload malware, attempt to gain unauthorised access, probe or circumvent security, or disrupt the Service;
• scrape, resell, sublicense, or provide the Service to third parties as a service bureau, except as expressly permitted;
• reverse engineer or copy the Service except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by law;
• exceed plan limits (e.g., concurrent listeners, sessions, presenters, events) other than as the Service permits.

We may investigate suspected violations and suspend access to address active misuse, security risk, or legal exposure, where practicable with notice.

6. Customer Content

You retain all rights in Customer Content. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, process, transmit, translate, transcode, cache, and display Customer Content solely to provide and maintain the Service and as instructed by you. You represent that you own or have the rights to your Customer Content and that its use through the Service does not infringe third-party rights or violate law. You are solely responsible for the accuracy and legality of your Customer Content and follow-up materials.

7. Live audio, translation and captions

The Service streams live spoken audio and may generate real-time translations and captions using automated systems, including third-party providers. Automated translation and transcription are provided on a best-efforts basis and may contain errors, omissions, or inaccuracies. You are responsible for any reliance on translated or transcribed output, and for ensuring that what you broadcast is accurate and lawful. Audio is streamed and processed transiently in real time to deliver live listening, translation, and captions; the Service does not record or store audio.

8. Visitor data and your data-protection responsibilities

This Section is central to the Service and to your compliance.

8.1 Roles. For Visitor Data captured through your booth and channels, you are the data controller and Microstage is your data processor. Our processing of Visitor Data is governed by the DPA, which forms part of these Terms. For our own account, billing, website, and limited service-operation data, we act as a controller as described in our Privacy Policy.

8.2 Your obligations and warranties. You are solely responsible, and you represent and warrant, that:

• you have a valid legal basis under GDPR to collect Visitor email addresses and engagement data and to send every follow-up or marketing communication, and you will obtain consent where consent is required (in particular under ePrivacy Article 13);
• you provide Visitors with a clear, accurate privacy notice at the point of collection and you keep a working link to your own privacy policy configured in your dashboard settings;
• where you broadcast or transmit audio of any person through the Service, you have the notices, permissions, and authority required by applicable law;
• you honour Visitor opt-outs, withdrawals of consent, and data-subject requests promptly, and your follow-up content complies with all applicable electronic-marketing laws;
• where your audience includes recipients in jurisdictions that require a physical sender address in every commercial message (e.g., the US under CAN-SPAM, Canada under CASL), you provide a valid postal address in your dashboard settings so we can render it in the follow-up email footer;
• you do not use the Service to contact persons who have not validly opted in where opt-in is required, and you do not import or process data you are not authorised to use.

We provide configurable privacy-notice and consent mechanisms on the listener page, a per-recipient one-click unsubscribe surface on every follow-up email (RFC 8058), and a per-exhibitor suppression list. You must enable and correctly configure these mechanisms; they are a condition of your use of the data-capture features. You remain fully responsible for the lawfulness of the resulting processing regardless of any default settings we provide. We have no obligation to monitor, and do not verify, your legal basis, notices, consents, or follow-up content.

8.3 Our commitment. We will not use Visitor Data for our own purposes except as a processor on your instructions and as permitted by the DPA (e.g., to operate, secure, and maintain the Service, and to produce aggregated, de-identified service statistics).

9. Fees, plans and payment

9.1 Plans. The Service is offered on a free pilot tier and on paid per-event activations (e.g., Starter and Growth), with limits and features as described at the time of purchase. We may change plans and pricing prospectively; changes do not affect an event you have already activated and paid for.

9.2 Payment. Paid activations are charged at purchase via our payment processor. Unless stated otherwise, per-event fees are one-time activation fees, not recurring subscriptions, and do not auto-renew. Fees are exclusive of taxes. For B2B sales to a customer established in another EU Member State who provides a valid VAT identification number, VAT is reverse-charged under Article 196 of the VAT Directive (2006/112/EC). You are responsible for any other applicable VAT and similar taxes, except taxes on our net income.

9.3 Refunds and consumer withdrawal. Except where required by mandatory consumer law, paid activation fees are non-refundable once the event window has begun. If you contract as a consumer in the meaning of Article 6:230g of the Dutch Civil Code (BW), you have a 14-day right of withdrawal under Article 6:230o BW. By selecting "activate now" and ticking the corresponding box at checkout you (i) expressly request us to begin performance immediately and (ii) acknowledge that you lose your withdrawal right once the Service is fully performed within the 14-day window (Article 6:230p sub d BW). If performance has only partly occurred when you withdraw, you owe a pro-rata amount for what was delivered (Article 6:230s(4) BW). The withdrawal model form is available at legal@microstage.io on request.

9.4 Free pilot. The free pilot is provided to let you evaluate the Service and is offered "as is" to the maximum extent permitted by law, without the warranties or service commitments that may apply to paid tiers. We may modify or discontinue the free pilot at any time.

9.5 Durable record. We retain a durable, time-stamped record of the version of these Terms, the Privacy Policy, and the DPA that you accepted at sign-up and on each material update, in our append-only consent ledger. You can request a copy at any time at legal@microstage.io.

10. Term, suspension and termination

10.1 Term. These Terms apply from your first use until your account is closed or all activations have concluded.

10.2 Termination by you. You may stop using the Service and close your account at any time. Per-event fees already paid remain due per Section 9.

10.3 Suspension and termination by us. We may suspend or terminate access, in whole or in part, if: you materially breach these Terms (including non-payment or prohibited use) and, where the breach is curable, fail to cure within a reasonable period after notice; we reasonably believe your use creates a security, legal, regulatory, or third-party risk (including suspected unlawful data capture or follow-up messaging); we are required to do so by law or by a provider; or we receive a credible complaint about your use. For paid B2B customers, where the Service operates as an online intermediation service in the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 (P2B), we will provide a statement of reasons on a durable medium and at least 30 days' prior notice of full termination, unless we are subject to a legal or regulatory obligation that requires shorter notice, are exercising a right of termination under an overriding reason of national law, or can demonstrate that you have repeatedly infringed these Terms. Immediate suspension to mitigate an active security, legal, or third-party risk is permitted with notice as soon as reasonably practicable.

10.4 Effect. On termination, your right to use the Service ends. We will handle Visitor Data on termination as set out in the DPA, and other Customer Content as described in our Privacy Policy and documentation. Sections that by their nature should survive (including 6, 7, 11–15, 16, 17.A, and 18) survive termination.

11. Intellectual property

The Service, including its software, design, and trademarks, is owned by us and our licensors and protected by law. Feedback you provide may be used by us without restriction or obligation. Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of the Service to you.

12. Confidentiality

Each party may receive non-public information of the other. The recipient will use it only to perform under these Terms and protect it with reasonable care. This does not apply to information that is public, independently developed, or lawfully obtained without confidentiality obligations, or to disclosures required by law.

13. Warranties and disclaimers

We will provide the paid Service with reasonable skill and care. Except as expressly stated and to the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available", and we disclaim all other warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, uninterrupted or error-free operation, and the accuracy of automated translation, transcription, telephony, or third-party connectivity. We do not warrant that the Service will meet your requirements, that any pitch will be heard, that any Visitor will respond or submit data, that follow-up messages will be delivered, or that translations or captions will be accurate or complete. You assume all risk arising from your reliance on automated translation, transcription, audio delivery, and Visitor responses. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain disclaimers; in that case, the minimum warranties required by law apply and the rest are disclaimed.

14. Indemnification

14.1 Your indemnity. You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Microstage and its affiliates, officers, employees, and agents from and against any third-party claim, demand, regulatory action, fine, loss, liability, damage, cost, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your Customer Content; (b) your collection, use, disclosure, or retention of Visitor Data; (c) your follow-up or marketing communications; (d) your broadcasting or transmission of audio; (e) your breach of these Terms, the DPA, your representations and warranties, or applicable law (including data-protection, anti-spam, and consumer-protection law); or (f) a dispute between you and a Visitor or any Authorized User. This obligation applies except to the extent the claim is caused by Microstage's own breach proven in a final judgment.

14.2 Process. We will notify you of the claim, allow you to control the defence with counsel reasonable to us (provided any settlement that imposes obligations or admissions on us requires our consent), and reasonably cooperate at your expense. This Section survives termination and is not subject to the liability cap in Section 15. Nothing in this Section limits any mandatory consumer rights you may have.

15. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law: (a) neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, business, goodwill, anticipated savings, or loss or corruption of data, however arising and even if advised of the possibility; and (b) Microstage's total aggregate liability arising out of or related to the Service and these Terms in any twelve-month period will not exceed the fees you paid to us in the twelve (12) months before the event giving rise to the claim, with a minimum of €500 so that the cap is never effectively zero on the free pilot tier.

The exclusions and cap in this Section apply to all claims in aggregate, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), statute, or otherwise. They do not apply to: (i) your payment obligations; (ii) your indemnity obligations under Section 14; (iii) either party's breach of confidentiality (Section 12); or (iv) liability that cannot be excluded under mandatory law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, intent, or gross negligence (opzet of bewuste roekeloosheid), fraud, or wilful misconduct.

Nothing in these Terms limits a Data Subject's right to compensation under Article 82 GDPR. Where Article 82 applies, the parties shall allocate liability between themselves in accordance with their respective responsibility for the damage, and Microstage retains a right of recourse against you for any portion of compensation it pays in excess of its own responsibility.

If you are a consumer in the meaning of Article 6:230g BW, the limitations in this Section apply only to the extent permitted by mandatory consumer law (in particular Article 6:236 and 6:237 BW).

15.1 Time limit for claims. To the extent permitted by law and without prejudice to any longer mandatory statutory limitation period applicable to a consumer, any claim against Microstage arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms must be brought within two (2) years after the cause of action accrues, after which it is permanently barred.

16. Third-party services

The Service relies on third parties (e.g., hosting, telephony, translation, email delivery). Their availability and acts are outside our control, and your use may be subject to their terms. The current sub-processor list is published at microstage.io/legal/subprocessors. We are not responsible for third-party services except as expressly stated or required by law.

16.A Automated translation, transcription and AI-generated output

The Service uses general-purpose AI models supplied by a third party (currently OpenAI's real-time translation model) to translate and, where enabled, transcribe live pitch audio in the listener's language of choice. Translated text and captions are AI-generated and provided on a best-efforts basis. They may be incomplete, inaccurate, or include hallucinations. You must not present AI-generated translations or captions as a verbatim or certified record of what was said and must not rely on them where a verbatim record is required by law (e.g., regulated disclosures, contractual offers). To assist transparency under Article 50 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), the listener page surfaces a clear notice that audio is processed by an AI translation system before the Visitor can listen. We do not currently operate any AI system that the AI Act classifies as high-risk. You will not use Microstage to deploy AI for any high-risk use case under Annex III of the AI Act without our prior written agreement.

17. Changes to the Service and these Terms

We may improve, modify, or discontinue features. We may update these Terms; we will post the updated version with a new "Last updated" date. For material changes adverse to a paid customer, we will give at least 15 days' prior notice by email and in the dashboard, in line with Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 (P2B). The notice period does not apply where (i) we are subject to a legal or regulatory obligation that requires shorter notice, (ii) the change addresses an unforeseen and imminent danger to defend the Service against fraud, malware, spam, data breaches, or other cybersecurity risks, or (iii) you have validly waived the notice period. If you do not agree to a material change, you may terminate the affected paid Service before the change takes effect and obtain a pro-rata refund of fees paid for the unused period. Continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

17.A Notice, action and complaints

17.A.1 DSA single point of contact. As an information-society hosting service under Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (DSA), our single point of contact for authorities and recipients is legal@microstage.io, with English as the working language.

17.A.2 Notice-and-action. Anyone may notify us of allegedly illegal content stored or transmitted via the Service by emailing legal@microstage.io with: (i) the URL or other precise identifier of the content; (ii) the legal basis for the notice; (iii) an explanation of why the content is alleged to be illegal; (iv) the notifier's name and contact details (unless the notice concerns child sexual abuse material or other offences listed in Articles 3–7 of Directive 2011/93/EU); and (v) a statement of good-faith belief that the information is accurate and complete. We will confirm receipt without undue delay, act on valid notices in a timely, diligent and non-arbitrary manner, and provide a statement of reasons to affected users where we restrict access to their content (DSA Articles 16–17).

17.A.3 Internal complaint-handling. Paid B2B customers may use our internal complaint-handling system for disputes relating to the Service by emailing legal@microstage.io. We will acknowledge within 7 days and aim to resolve complaints within 30 days. If the complaint cannot be resolved internally, the parties may agree to a mediator and, failing agreement, go directly to the court designated in Section 18.

18. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Netherlands, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules and excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The District Court of Amsterdam has exclusive jurisdiction, except that either party may seek injunctive relief in any competent court. If you are a consumer, you keep the protection of mandatory provisions of the law of your country of residence and may bring proceedings there.

19. General

19.1 Order of precedence. In case of conflict the order of precedence is: (i) the EU Standard Contractual Clauses incorporated into the DPA; (ii) the DPA; (iii) any signed Order; (iv) these Terms; (v) policies referenced from these Terms (Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, AUP, Sub-processors).

19.2 Entire agreement. These Terms (with the Privacy Policy, DPA, AUP, Cookie Policy, Sub-processors list, and any Order) are the entire agreement and supersede prior agreements on their subject matter.

19.3 Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our consent (not to be unreasonably withheld); we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, on notice to you.

19.4 Severability and waiver. If a provision is unenforceable, the rest remains in effect and the unenforceable provision is read down to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable while preserving the parties' intent. No waiver is implied by delay or by a single failure to enforce a right.

19.5 No third-party rights. There are no third-party beneficiaries to these Terms.

19.6 Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including (without limitation) acts of government, network or telephony failures, outages or material degradation of upstream providers (hosting, telephony, AI translation, email delivery), venue or trade-show restrictions, denial-of-service or other cybersecurity attacks, pandemic, war, terrorism, or labour disturbances. The affected party will notify the other and use commercially reasonable efforts to resume performance.

19.7 Sanctions and export control. Each party will comply with applicable EU and Dutch sanctions and export-control laws and will not use, or allow the use of, the Service in violation of those laws (in particular Council Regulation (EU) 833/2014 and similar measures).

19.8 Notices. Notices to us go to legal@microstage.io; notices to you go to the email address on the account. Notices are deemed received on the next business day after sending.

20. Contact

Microstage (microstage.io) — legal@microstage.io.