Jay-Z is entitled to over $4.5 million in royalty claims against a perfume company that dragged him to trial last year, an appellate court ruled Thursday.
Perfume company Parlux filed a $68 million lawsuit against the “Empire State of Mind” rapper in 2016 accusing him of failing to uphold his end of a 2012 contract to promote his eponymous fragrance – Gold Jay Z.
The three-week trial began in October with a jury letting Jay-Z, who took the witness stand for two days, off the hook for the hefty claims.
At trial, Alex Spiro, a lawyer for the the 51-year-old “99 Problems” rapper, asked the jury to grant his client’s counterclaim against Parlux seeking over $4.5 million in alleged unpaid royalties. But the jury also found that Parlux shouldn’t have to pay damages to Jay-Z either.
The Appellate Division, First Department issued a ruling Thursday on appeals that had been pending during the trial, finding that Jay-Z and his company “are entitled to summary judgment on their royalties counterclaim.”
“The record is clear: Parlux sold licensed products after July 31, 2015, but failed to pay royalties on those sales,” Justice John Higgitt wrote in the unanimous decision.
Jay-Z on the witness stand in the trial on Oct 29, 2019.Alec TabakSpiro declined to comment. A lawyer for Parlux did not immediately return a request for comment.
At trial, Parlux lawyer Anthony Viola alleged that Jay-Z — whose real name is Shawn Carter — and his company S. Carter Enterprises LLC broke their agreement when he failed to show up for the 2014 Gold Jay Z launch at Macy’s and failed to make promotional spots on “Good Morning America” and in Women’s Wear Daily.
“Parlux invested $29 million into that venture. It upheld its end of the bargain,” Viola argued during closing arguments. “The defendants didn’t uphold their end of the bargain.”
Parlux initially sued Jay-Z in 2016 for allegedly not fulfilling a contract to promote his fragrance.Alec Tabak“If the defendants had fulfilled the contract, if they have upheld their end of the bargain, Parlux would have had a runaway success,” Viola said. “We would have netter $67.6 million in net profits.”
Spiro, told jurors during his closing arguments that his client didn’t want the cologne to fail, noting that he had a year to make promotional appearances and that showing up to the launch wasn’t required under the agreement.
“Why on Earth would Jay-Z put his name on one product and only one product in his entire career if he wanted that product to fail? Why?” Spiro posed. “And that’s a question they will never be able to answer because there is no answer.”