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THROUGHOUT THIS AGREEMENT, WHERE INFORMATION HAS
BEEN REPLACED BY AN ASTERISK
(*), THAT INFORMATION HAS BEEN OMITTED PURSUANT TO A REQUEST FOR
CONFIDENTIAL
TREATMENT FILED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
PURSUANT TO RULE
24B-2 PROMULGATED UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS
AMENDED. THE
OMITTED INFORMATION HAS BEEN FILED SEPARATELY WITH THE
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION.
EXHIBIT 10.71
LICENSE AGREEMENT
This LICENSE AGREEMENT ("Agreement") is made and effective as of
the
6th day of January 2005 (the "effective date"), by and between
PARIS HILTON
ENTERTAINMENT INC., with offices at 250 North Canon Drive, 2nd
Floor, Beverly
Hills, CA 90210 ("Licensor"), and PARLUX FRAGRANCES, INC., a
public Delaware
corporation with offices at 3725 S.W. 30th Avenue, Ft.
Lauderdale, Fl. 33312
("Licensee") (together the "Parties").
W I T N E S S E T H :
WHEREAS, by way of a master license (the "Master License") from
Ms.
Paris Hilton, an individual with a mailing address of c/o Ms.
Wendy White, 250
North Canon Drive, 2nd Floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90210, to
Licensor, Licensor has
the sole and exclusive rights to license the Licensed Mark (as
hereinafter
defined) pursuant to the terms hereof; and,
WHEREAS, the Parties entered into a license agreement on May 19,
2004
in which Licensor granted Licensee the sole and exclusive rights
to manufacture
and distribute fragrances and related products bearing the
Licensed Mark( the
"Fragrance License"); and,
WHEREAS, Licensee is familiar with the business of
manufacturing,
promoting and selling Articles (as hereinafter defined) and
Licensee desires to
obtain from Licensor, the exclusive right and license to use the
Licensed Mark
in the Territory (as hereinafter defined) for use on and in
connection with the
manufacture, promotion, distribution and sale of Articles;
and,
WHEREAS, Licensor is willing to grant the license pursuant to
the terms
contained herein.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises and mutual
agreements
contained herein, the parties hereto covenant and agree as
follows:
ARTICLE 1
DEFINITIONS
The following definitions shall apply:
A. TERRITORY. All countries of the world and all
duty-free-shops,
ships, airplanes, military bases and diplomatic missions of
every country of the
world, including the world-wide web.
B. ARTICLES. Men's and women's watches and other time
pieces.
C. LICENSED MARK. The trademark PARIS HILTON and such other
trademarks
as are, from time to time, agreed to by Licensor. Licensor has
filed an
application to register the Licensed Mark for Articles: (i) in
the United States
<PAGE>
Patent and Trademark Office on July 27, 2004, Serial No.
76/604,205; and, (ii)
in the 25 cooperating countries of Europe in a CTM application
filed on October
4, 2004, Serial No. 4059631; and (iii) in Japan, Paris Hilotn
word mark filed on
October 5, 2004 in International Classes 3 (perfume); 14
(watches and clocks)
and 25 (clothing); Application No. 2004-91278 in the name of
Paris Hilton,
personally. The trademark examiner sent a priority action on
December 9, 2004.
This letter did not mention any opposition by Genender
Intl..
D. NET SALES. The sales price at which Licensee or any
Subsidiary or
Affiliate (as hereinafter defined) bills its Non-Subsidiary or
Affiliate
customers for Articles less: (i) all returns of damaged,
defective or other
merchandise, uncollectible accounts, trade and cash discounts
and allowances,
and taxes directly applicable to the sale of Articles (such as
sales, use, value
added or similar taxes); (ii) all freight and shipping charges,
insurance costs
and duties and other governmental charges paid by the Licensee
to the extent
stated separately on any invoice; (iii) all receipts from the
sale of
discontinued and close-out merchandise (which shall include only
Articles sold
at a discount of 25% or more from the normal price charged to
that specific
customer and then only to the extent that the aggregate gross
sales thereof in
any contract year do not exceed fifteen percent (15%) of total
gross sales);
and, (iv) all receipts from the sale of samples, displays,
brochures,
gift-with-purchase and similar advertising and promotional
materials and
packaging supplies. Notwithstanding the terms of sub-section
(iii) above,
Licensee shall not be excused from paying royalties on the sales
of the Articles
in which the Licensee receives a minimum gross margin of 25%, in
which gross
margin is defined as sales price to the customer less Licensee's
cost of goods
and shipping.
E. SUBSIDIARY. Any corporation or other entity which is 100%
directly
or indirectly owned by Licensee.
F. AFFILIATE. Any corporation or other entity which is at least
50% owned by
Licensee.
ARTICLE 2
GRANT OF LICENSE RIGHTS
RIGHTS GRANTED. Upon the terms and conditions of this
Agreement,
Licensor hereby grants to Licensee, during the term of this
Agreement, the sole
and exclusive right and license to use the Licensed Mark in the
Territory as a
trademark in connection with the manufacture, promotion, sale
and distribution
solely of the Articles and on all packaging materials,
containers and
promotional materials related to the Articles and in connection
with the
publicity, sales and advertising of the Articles, including in
newspapers,
magazines, radio, television, cinema and similar media presently
existing or
that may exist in the future. Articles may be sold through the
channels
customarily used to sell similar products of comparable prestige
and quality in
the ordinary course of business as described in paragraph A of
Article 7 below.
Licensor shall not, during any period this Agreement is in
effect, grant any
rights to any third party in connection with the Articles for
the Trademark or
any other trademark which includes PARIS HILTON or any
derivative thereof.
<PAGE>
ARTICLE 3
EXCLUSIVITY OF LICENSE
Licensor will not grant any other license effective during the
term of
this Agreement for the use of the Licensed Mark on or in
connection with the
Articles in the Territory. Licensor and Ms. Paris Hilton may use
or grant others
the right to use the Licensed Mark on or in connection with
goods of all other
<PAGE>
types and descriptions (with the acknowledgement that Licensor
has previously
granted a license to Licensee contained in Fragrance License) in
the Territory.
Licensor acknowledges that Licensee may manufacture and/or
distribute in parts
of the Territory goods similar to the Articles covered by this
Agreement which
bear other trademarks. Licensor further acknowledges and
consents to Licensee
obtaining other additional licenses for the manufacture and/or
distribution of
other similar lines of goods during the term of this Agreement.
Licensee will
not, during the term of this Agreement and thereafter, attack
either Licensor's
title in and to the Licensed Mark or the validity of this
License.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, Licensee acknowledges that Ms.
Paris
Hilton has entered into an agreement with the company Guess?,
Inc. to act as a
model and spokesperson for their products, some of which are
watches, although
the Licensed Mark does not appear on any actual watches.
Further, on July 28,
2004 Licensor entered into an agreement with Amazon.com LLC
licensing Amazon.com
LLC to jointly create a line of at least 10 pieces of jewelry
with Ms. Paris
Hilton bearing the Licensed Mark for sale on an online Paris
Hilton Boutique to
be established by Amazon.com LLC. Amazon.com LLC was granted
rights to operate
the online Paris Hilton Boutique for six months from the date of
first launch
(August 28, 2004) after which at Amazon.com LLC's sole
discretion, it may
continue to operate the online Paris Hilton Boutique for a
longer period of
time. To date, the Licensed Mark has not been used by Amazon.com
LLC on any
watches or time pieces, but only in connection with a 10-piece
jewelry line.
Attached is an agreement that Amazon.com has executed that
precludes them from
including watches (and other time pieces) from the Paris Hilton
Boutique as of
March 1, 2005.
ARTICLE 4
TERM OF AGREEMENT
Subject to the rights of termination set forth in this
Agreement, the
initial term of this Agreement shall be for five (5) years
commencing on the
execution date above and terminating on June 30, 2010 (the
"Initial Term").
Licensee shall have the option to renew this Agreement for an
additional
five-year period as long as the Minimum Royalties (as
hereinafter defined) for
the Initial Term have been fully paid. Licensee shall notify
Licensor of its
intent to either renew or not renew no later than December 31,
2009. Each twelve
(12) month period commencing on each July 1 and ending on June
30 shall
constitute and be referred to herein as an "Annual Period."
However, the initial
Annual Period shall commence on the execution date above and
shall terminate on
June 30, 2006.
ARTICLE 5
CONFIDENTIALITY
The Parties acknowledge that all information relating to the
business
and operations of Licensor and Licensee which they learn or have
learned during
or prior to the term of this Agreement is confidential. The
Parties acknowledge
the need to preserve the confidentiality and secrecy of such
information and
agree that, both during the term of this Agreement and after the
expiration or
termination hereof, they shall not use or disclose same, and
shall take all
necessary steps to preserve in all respects such confidentiality
and secrecy.
The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply with respect to
any information
which has entered the public domain through no fault of Parties.
The provisions
of this paragraph shall survive the expiration or termination of
this Agreement.
<PAGE>
ARTICLE 6
DUTIES OF LICENSEE
A. Best Efforts. During the term of this Agreement, Licensee
will use
its best efforts to exploit the rights herein granted throughout
the Territory
and to sell the maximum quantity of Articles therein consistent
with the high
standards and prestige represented by the Licensed Mark.
B. Design and Sample Making. Licensor shall not be responsible
for the
production, design or sample making of the Articles and Licensee
shall bear all
costs related thereto.
ARTICLE 7
QUALITY STANDARDS
A. Manufacture of Articles; Quality Control.
(i) The contents and workmanship of Articles shall be at all
times of the highest quality consistent with the reputation,
image and prestige
of the Licensed Mark and Articles shall be distributed and sold
with packaging
and sales promotion materials appropriate for such high quality
Products. The
parties agree that the Articles shall be of such premium
quality, prestige and
price similar to that of the Guess?, Fossil, and Jennifer Lopez
watches as of
the date of this Agreement.
(ii) All Articles shall be manufactured, labeled, sold,
distributed and advertised in accordance with all applicable
national, state
and local laws and regulations.
(iii) Licensee shall submit to Licensor for approval the
proposed watch designs, along with the proposed packaging and
other material,
designs, sketches, colors, tags, containers and labels (the
"Approval
Package") for Licensor's review, which approval shall not be
unreasonably
withheld. In the event that Licensor does not respond to
Licensee within 10
days of the receipt of any and all items within the scope of the
Approval
Package, any such item shall be deemed approved.
(iv) During the term of this Agreement, upon Licensor's
request, Licensee shall submit, free of charge to Licensor, the
then current
production samples of each Article marketed. Production samples
submitted by
Licensee for this purpose may be retained by Licensor. Further,
Licensee shall
provide Licensor with 100 samples of the various Articles being
distributed
each year for Licensor to use for public relations and
promotional purposes.
All Articles to be sold hereunder shall be at least equal in
quality to the
Approval Package presented to Licensor. Licensor and its duly
authorized
representatives shall have the right, upon reasonable advance
notice and
during normal business hours, at Licensor's expense, to examine
Articles in
the process of being manufactured.
B. Required Markings. Licensee shall cause to appear on all
packaging
of Articles, (i) "the trademark, PARIS HILTON" is licensed to
"Parlux
Fragrances, Inc."; and such additional legends, markings and
notices complying
with the requirements of any law or regulation in the Territory
and (ii) such
legends, markings and notices as Licensor, from time to time,
may reasonably
request.
C. Distribution. In order to maintain the reputation, image
and
prestige of the Licensed Mark, Licensee's normal distribution
patterns shall
consist of those retail establishments whose location,
merchandising and overall
operations are consistent with the products described in
paragraph A (i) of
Article 7 above.
D. Sales Force. During the term of this Agreement, Licensee
shall
maintain a non-exclusive sales force suitable to carry out the
purpose of this
Agreement.
<PAGE>
ARTICLE 8
GUARANTEED MINIMUM ROYALTY
In consideration of both the license granted and the services to
be
performed by Ms. Paris Hilton hereunder, Licensee shall pay to
Licensor an
annual Guaranteed Minimum Royalty as follows:
ANNUAL PERIOD GUARANTEED MINIMUM ROYALTY
------------- --------------------------
Year 1 (Execution date - 6/30/06) * (due upon execution
hereof)
Year 2 (7/1/06 - 6/30/07) *
Year 3 (7/1/07 - 6/30/08) *
Year 4 (7/1/08 - 6/30/09) *
Year 5 (7/1/09 - 6/30/10) *
In the event that the Initial Term of this Agreement is extended
for an
additional five-year term (July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2015, the
"Extended Term")
the Guaranteed Minimum Royalty for each Annual Period of the
Extended Term shall
be *.
The Guaranteed Minimum Royalty payable for each Annual Period
shall be
paid to Licensor on a monthly basis in 12-equal installments on
the first of
every month starting with the payment of the Guaranteed Minimum
Royalty for Year
2 on July 1, 2006.
The Guaranteed Minimum Royalty for each Annual Period shall be
credited
against the Sales Royalty for only the same Annual Period as
provided in Article
9 below.
ARTICLE 9
SALES ROYALTY; WITHHOLDING TAXES; COMMISSION TO RICK HILTON
A. Licensee shall pay to Licensor a Sales Royalty on each
Annual
Period's Net Sales of *. The Sales Royalty payable hereunder
shall be accounted
for and paid on a quarterly basis within forty-five (45) days
after the close of
the prior quarter's sales, along with the Guaranteed Minimum
Royalty that may be
due. In other words, the actual Sales Royalty will be paid
45-days in arrears
computed on the basis of Net Sales during the quarter ending 45
days before the
period upon which royalties are being paid, with a credit for
any Guaranteed
Minimum Royalty and Sales Royalty payments previously made to
Licensor.
B. If applicable, Licensee shall compute any payment, on behalf
of
Licensor, for all taxes (other than United States Federal, state
or local income
taxes) which any governmental authority in the Territory may
impose on Licensor
with respect to royalties paid by Licensee to Licensor. The
amount of such taxes
shall be deducted from payments of royalties, provided that
Licensor is entitled
under applicable law to credit the amount of such taxes against
its United
States Federal Income Tax obligations. Licensee shall furnish
Licensor with an
official receipt (together with a translation thereof if not in
English)
promptly after each such payment of taxes. In the event such
taxes are not paid
when due, all resulting penalties and interest shall be borne by
Licensee.
<PAGE>
C. No payment of Sales Royalty for any Annual Period in excess
of
payments of Guaranteed Minimum Royalty for the same Annual
Period shall be
credited against the Guaranteed Minimum Royalty due to Licensor
for any other
Annual Period.
D. Payment of the initial Guaranteed Minimum Royalty shall be
as
follows:
(1) * to: "Rick Hilton". c/o Ms. Wendy White, 250 North
Canon
Drive, 2nd Floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90210; and,
(2) * to: Paris Hilton Entertainment Inc. c/o Ms. Wendy
White, 250 North Canon Drive, 2nd Floor, Beverly Hills, CA
90210
E. All other Guaranteed Minimum Royalties and other Royalties
shall be
paid as follows:
(1) 5% of amounts due to: "Rick Hilton" c/o Ms. Wendy White,
250 North Canon Drive, 2nd Floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90210;
and,
(2) 95% of amounts due to: Paris Hilton Entertainment Inc.
c/o
Ms. Wendy White, 250 North Canon Drive, 2nd Floor, Beverly
Hills, CA 90210.
F. In addition to the Sales Royalty and Guaranteed Minimum
Royalties
that Licensee is obligated to pay pursuant to the terms hereof,
Licensee shall
further pay Mr. Rick Hilton, a commission for negotiating this
Agreement of * of
the actual Sales Royalty and Guaranteed Minimum Royalty (paid to
Licensor and
Rick Hilton) throughout the term of this Agreement and any
extensions thereof.
This * commission shall be paid to Rick Hilton at the time that
the Sales
Royalty is due to Licensor. The * commission shall be paid on
the initial
Guaranteed Minimum Royalty due upon execution hereof, so that
Rick Hilton shall
received * (Guaranteed Minimum Royalty) + * (commission) upon
execution hereof,
or * .
ARTICLE 10
ADVERTISING
Licensee agrees to spend in the United States for "consumer
advertising" (as defined below) * of Net Sales during each
Annual Period.
For the other markets in the Territory, Licensee or its
distributors
will jointly spend not less than * of Net sales in such markets
during each
Annual Period.
"Consumer Advertising" shall be understood to include
newspapers,
magazines, television, radio, billboards (including related
artwork and
production charges for these five categories), retailer
demonstration charges,
retailer's catalogues, gifts-with-purchase including the gift
aspect of value
sets, direct mail, remittance envelopes, billing inserts ,
product samples,
pamphlets, free goods (including those to Licensor for events
and other public
relation activities), window and counter displays (including
testers, dummies,
counter cards and other visual aids), special events, contests,
publicity and
promotions and cooperative advertising.
Licensor undertakes at Licensee's request to make Ms. Paris
Hilton
("PH") available at reasonable intervals and for reasonable
periods (which shall
involve a maximum of four (4) appearances during the first
Annual Period and a
maximum of two (2) appearances each Annual Period thereafter)
for promotional
tie-ins serving to associate PH with the Articles. Licensee
shall also be
entitled to the use of PH's likeness for advertising and
promotional purposes
<PAGE>
upon Licensor's approval first being obtained in each instance,
which approval
shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. Licensor shall
make every
reasonable effort, in light of PH's busy schedule, at the
request of the
Licensee, to arrange for PH's cooperation for publicity
photographs, launch
parties, personal appearances and radio and TV interviews (which
shall be
included in PH's obligations of four (4) and two (2) appearances
discussed
above). Licensee shall reimburse Licensor for the reasonable
costs involved in
providing PH plus one other individual, selected by Licensor,
plus her Mother
and Father if they wish to attend, with first-class travel,
lodging, food and
other related expenses mutually agreed upon in advance of each
appearance
attended by PH at Licensee's request. If PH fails to appear for
a scheduled
Licensor approved event, Licensee will have the right to deduct
up to $20,000 of
its non-refundable out of pocket expenses incurred in connection
with each
specific event from the Sales Royalty. The failure to appear at
a scheduled
event could have a material adverse effect on the Licensee's
ability to market
the Articles.
ARTICLE 11
SALES STATEMENT; BOOKS AND RECORDS; AUDITS
A. Sales Statement. Licensee shall deliver to Licensor at the
time each
Sales Royalty payment is due, a reasonably detailed report
signed by a duly
authorized officer of Licensee indicating by quarter the Net
Sales and a
computation of the amount of Sales Royalty payable hereunder for
said period.
Such statement shall be furnished to Licensor whether or not any
Articles have
been sold during the period of which such statement is due.
Licensee shall deliver to Licensor, not later than ninety (90)
days
after the close of each Annual Period during the term of this
Agreement (or
portion thereof in the event of prior termination for any r
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