In 2012, JAY-Z inked a deal with Parlux, a perfume company who would manufacture the “Gold Jay Z” line of perfume. Parlux became frustrated with Hov and claimed he breached their contract when he did not attend the 2014 Gold Jay Z launch at Macy’s, as well as missing promotional appearances for the perfume line for “Good Morning America” and in Women’s Wear Daily.
This led to Parlux filing a suit against Sean Carter, better known as JAY-Z, where they would seek a $68 million settlement for JAY failing to uphold his end of their deal. In the lawsuit, Parlux and their attorney Anthony Viola “accused the star of failing to properly promote his Gold Jay-Z cologne line” which caused $18 million in lost revenue: ““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 netted $67.6 million in net profits.”
But JAY-Z disagreed, insisting they instead owed him $2.7 million in royalties. He eventually testified in court in October 2021, along with his lawyer Alex Spiro. Hov’s argument against the suit is that Parlux never provided the adequate products and effort into the “Gold Jay-Z” line that he anticipated, and was always frustrated with the work they provided.
He would eventually be cleared of any breach of contract in November. Now, a few months later, JAY has claimed another victory over his estranged perfume partners, as an appellate court ruled on Feb. 24 that he is entitled to over $4.5 million in royalties.
In the court’s unanimous decision, Justice John Higgitt claimed that Parlux still made money off of Hov’s name even after they claimed he breached their contract: “The record is clear: Parlux sold licensed products after July 31, 2015, but failed to pay royalties on those sales.”
All in all, it seems like JAY-Z’s triumph over Parlux indicates that they were trying to pull a fast one on him, but justice has been served.