An appellate court determined on Thursday that Jay-Z is entitled to over $4.5 million in royalty claims against a perfume firm that took him to trial last year.
In 2016, the perfume firm Parlux sued the “Empire State of Mind” rapper for $68 million, alleging that he breached a 2012 contract to sell his eponymous fragrance, Gold Jay Z.
The three-week trial began in October, with a jury acquitting Jay-Z of the substantial claims after he testified for two days.
During the trial, Alex Spiro, a lawyer for the 51-year-old “99 Problems” rapper, requested the jury to grant his client’s counterclaim against Parlux, which sought more than $4.5 million in allegedly underpaid royalties.
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.
Spiro did not respond to a request for comment. A lawyer representing Parlux did not respond to a request for comment right away.
At trial, Parlux lawyer Anthony Viola claimed that Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, and his company S. Carter Enterprises LLC breached their contract by failing to appear at the 2014 Gold Jay Z launch at Macy’s and failing to make promotional appearances on “Good Morning America” and in Women’s Wear Daily.
“Parlux put $29 million into the project. During closing arguments, Viola stated that it “kept its half of the bargain.” “The defendants failed to fulfill their obligations.”
“Parlux would have been a runaway success if the defendants had completed the contract, if they had kept their half of the bargain,” Viola stated. “Our net profit would have been $67.6 million.”
During his closing arguments, Spiro told jurors that his client didn’t want the cologne to fail, pointing out that he had a year to make promotional appearances and that attending the launch wasn’t required under the deal.
“Why on Earth would Jay-Z put his name on only one thing in his whole career if he wanted it to fail?” Why?” Spiro posed for the camera. “And they’ll never be able to answer that question because there isn’t one.”