Jay-Z has just closed a six-year-long legal battle with Parlux, the perfume company that claimed he had stepped out on contractual obligations to promote his now-defunct fragrance.
Parlux was seeking nearly $68 million from Jay-Z. In November, a Manhattan jury found that Jay-Z was not liable in the $67.6 million in requested damages, but also found that Parlux did not have to pay Hov the $6 million in requested royalties after Jay-Z countersued. However, the appellate court ruled in favor of Jay, awarding Hov $4.5 million in royalties from past sales which he had requested during the trial last year.
“The record is clear: Parlux sold licensed products after July 31, 2015, but failed to pay royalties on those sales,” Justice John Higgitt wrote.
“Parlux invested $29 million into that venture – it upheld its end of the bargain – the defendants didn’t uphold their end of the bargain,” Parlux attorney Anthony Viola said in his closing arguments. “If the defendants had fulfilled the contract, if they have upheld their end of the bargain, Parlux would have had a runaway success. We would have netter $67.6 million in net profits.”
Alex Spiro, who represented Jay-Z, said that his client never wanted the product to fail, had a year’s time to make up for the appearances, and was never mandated to show up to the product’s launch event.
Parlux first sued Jay-Z in January of 2016. They claimed that Hov breached his contract and cost the company millions by not showing up to promotional events to promote the “Gold Jay-Z” cologne.
