American rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z won a lawsuit leveled against him of over $4.5 million in royalty claims against a perfume company. The company that dragged him to trial last year is Parlux, a manufacturer designer and lifestyle fragrances, and filed a $68 million lawsuit, against the rapper way back in 2016 accusing him of failing to maintain his side of the contract, while he was promoting the fragrance Gold Jay Z, a fragrance named after him.
The Court Granted His Counterclaim
The trial that ran for three weeks began in October with a jury letting Jay-Z go scotfree after he took the witness stand for two days. The 99 Problem rappers requested the jury to grant the client’s counterclaim against Parlux. He sought over $4.3 million in unpaid royalties. However, the jury ruled out against payment of damages to Jay Z.
A Ruling on Pending Trail
At the trial, the lawyer representing Parlux, Anthony Voila alleged that Parlux was forced to break the agreement when JayZ failed to show up for the 2014 Gold Jay Z launch at Macy’s; he also failed to promote the same on Good Morning America and in Women’s Wear Daily as he was supposed to. Parlux went on to invest $29 million into the venture. They argued that they upheld their side of the bargain but JayZ failed to do so. Their argument against Jay Z went as if he had maintained his side of the bargain then the perfume from the Parlux stable would have been a tremendous success, the net profits would stand at $67.6 million!
In its lawsuit, the company also accused the rapper and his S. Carter Enterprises of failing to promote the brand in an efficient way, breaching his contract, and hence the product met with failure. Jay-Z in answer to the lawsuit countersued, claiming he had maintained his part of the bargain despite the many falterings on Parlux’s part – and that the company still owed money from the superstar.
The Other Side of the Argument
Spiro, representing Jay. Z told his viewpoint to the jurors during his closing arguments that his client wanted the best for the perfume. He also pointed out that as per the contract, Jay Z had a year to attend all the promotional appearances; also it wasn’t mentioned in the agreement that he had to attend the launch.
Spiro also went on to reiterate that why would Jay Z put his name on a product if he wanted it to fail? Spiro was sure that they wouldn’t be able to find an answer to that question.
The Repercussions of A Deal Gone Wrong
After three months trial, the Manhattan jury cleared the rapper’s name of any kind of wrongdoing and saved him from paying a humongous amount of $67 million in damages; a New York state appealed the court went even further, asking Parlux to pay up. The court said the fragrance brand owed Jay Z past royalties, and interest, for product sales after the deal went kaput.
The Record is As Clear As Crystal
The record clearly showed that Parlux sold licensed products after July 31, 2015, however, they failed to pay royalties of the products on sales. This was reiterated by the Justice John Higgitt of the New York Appellate Division. In fact, the ruling came after six years of litigation over Gold- Jay -Z, as it was launched in 2013.
Verbal Sparring at the Court
A three-week trial included heated arguments from both parties, one from the star himself, in which he indulged in verbal duels with opposing attorneys and was vociferous in filing a new countersuit. Eventually, jurors largely saw the logical side of it and found out that Parlux was entitled to gain nothing. The new ruling for the most part rejected the challenges made by both the parties, however, it ruled in favor of Jay Z, even claiming that he was entitled to $4.5 million in royalties from the company; it was for the period after July 31, 2015.
Jay-Z’s pockets just got better after thanks to his hardworking lawyers who were able to win a 6-year legal war with Parlux. It is certainly a big win for JayZ, The hip-hop mogul suddenly got the better deal out of it, and here’s hoping that this is the last time he hears from this company. Jay Z was thrilled to bits and expressed his happiness to the reporters, saying that he is thankful to the jurors who saw the truth and ruled in his favor.