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Commitments and contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2023
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and contingencies

Note 9. Commitments and contingencies

 

Leases

 

On August 14, 2014, the Company entered into a thirty-seven month lease for its facilities in Pompano Beach, Florida, commencing on September 1, 2014. Terms included payment of a $5,367 security deposit; base rent of approximately $4,000 per month over the term of the lease plus sales tax; and payment of 10.76% of annual operating expenses (common areas maintenance), which was approximately $2,000 per month subject to periodic adjustment. On December 1, 2016, the Company entered into an amendment to the initial lease agreement, commencing on October 1, 2017, which extended the term of the lease for an additional eighty-four months until September 30, 2024. The base rent was increased to $4,626 per month with a 3% annual escalation.

 

On January 4, 2018, the Company entered into a sixty-one month lease renewal for its facility in Huntington Beach, California commencing on February 1, 2018. Terms included base rent of approximately $9,300 per month for the first 12 months with an annual escalation clause of 2.5% thereafter. The Company paid a security deposit of $8,450 upon entering into the lease.

 

On November 11, 2018, the Company entered a sixty-nine month lease commencing on January 1, 2019 for approximately 8,025 square feet adjoining its existing facility in Pompano Beach, Florida. Terms of the new lease include a $6,527 security deposit; initial base rent of approximately $4,848 per month escalating at 3% per year during the term of the lease plus Florida state sales tax and 10.11% of the buildings annual operating expenses (common area maintenance) which is approximately $1,679 per month, subject to adjustment as provided in the lease.

 

Royalty Agreement

 

On June 30, 2020, the Company entered into Amendment No. 2 to its Patent License Agreement with Setaysha Technical Solutions, LLC (“STS”). The Amendment set certain limits and expectations of the assistance from STS related to designing and commercializing certain diving products and revised the royalty payments due to STS as consideration for uncompensated services. The Company is obligated to pay STS a minimum yearly royalty of $60,000, or $15,000 per fiscal quarter, beginning in December 2019 and increasing by 2.15% per year. The minimum royalty was temporarily increased to $60,000 for years 2022, 2023 and 2024, with a fourth quarter true up against earned royalties. In addition, if the Company terminates the Agreement with STS prior to December 31, 2023, the Company is obligated to pay STS $180,000, less cumulative royalties paid in excess of $200,174 for the years 2019 through 2024. In accordance with the Amendment, the Company will pay additional minimum royalties of $60,000 per year or $15,000 per quarter for the years 2022 through 2024. Royalty recorded under the Agreement was $41,150 and $50,708 for the three months ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively. For the six months ended June 30, 2023 and 2022 royalty recorded under the Agreement was $75,973 and $94,316, respectively.

 

 

Consulting and Employment Agreements

 

On November 5, 2020, the Company entered into a three-year employment agreement with Christopher Constable (the “Constable Employment Agreement”) pursuant to which Mr. Constable served as Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Previously, Mr. Constable had provided advisory services to the Company through an agreement with Brandywine LLC. In consideration for his services, Mr. Constable received (i) an annual base salary of $200,000, payable in accordance with the customary payroll practices of the Company, and (ii) upon execution of the Constable Employment Agreement and on each anniversary thereof, a non-qualified immediately exercisable five-year option to purchase that number of shares equal to $100,000 of the value of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price equal to the market price of the Company’s common stock on the date of issuance. Accordingly, on November 5, 2020, Mr. Constable was issued an option to purchase 5,434,783 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.0184 per share, on November 5, 2021, Mr. Constable was issued an option to purchase 2,403,846 shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $0.0401 per share and on November 5, 2022, Mr. Constable was issued an option to purchase 3,968,254 shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $0.0252 per share.

 

In addition, Mr. Constable was entitled to receive four-year stock options to purchase shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.0184 per share in the following amounts based upon the following performance milestones during the term of the Constable Employment Agreement: (i) 2,000,000 shares, if the Company’s total net revenues, as reported in its statement of operations in its financial statements in its filings with the SEC, including as a result of a stock or asset acquisition of a third party (“Net Revenues”) are in excess of $5,000,000, in the aggregate, for four consecutive fiscal quarters; (ii) 3,000,000 shares, if the Company’s Net Revenues are in excess of $7,500,000, in the aggregate, for four consecutive fiscal quarters; (iii) 5,000,000 shares, if the Company’s Net Revenues are in excess of $10,000,000, in the aggregate, for four consecutive fiscal quarters; and (iv) 20,000,000 shares, if the Company’s common stock is listed on the NASDAQ or New York Stock Exchange.

 

On August 1, 2021, the Company and Blake Carmichael entered into a three-year employment agreement (the “Blake Carmichael Employment Agreement”) pursuant to which Mr. Carmichael served as Chief Executive Officer of BLU3. In consideration for his services, Blake Carmichael received (i) an annual base salary of $120,000, payable in accordance with the customary payroll practices of the Company, (ii) a cash bonus equal to 5% of the net income of BLU3, payable quarterly, beginning with the first full calendar quarter after the execution of the agreement, and (iii) upon execution of the Carmichael Employment Agreement, a non-qualified five-year stock option to purchase 3,759,400 shares at $0.0399, 33.3% of which shares vest immediately, 33.3% vest on the second anniversary, and 33.3% vest on the third anniversary of the agreement. In addition, Blake Carmichael shall be entitled to receive a five-year stock option to purchase up to 18,000,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.0399 per share that will vest upon annual financial metrics based upon a revenue measurement, expediency measurement and an EBITDA measurement. A measurement was made for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 resulting in no additional expense since the vesting criteria was not met.

 

On September 3, 2021, SSI and Christeen Buban entered into a three-year employment agreement (the “Buban Employment Agreement”) pursuant to which Ms. Buban shall serve as the President of SSI. In consideration for her services, Mrs. Buban shall receive (i) an annual base salary of $110,000, payable in accordance with the customary payroll practices of the Company, (ii) a car allowance and cell phone allowance of $10,800 per year, (iii) a five-year option issued under the Plan to purchase 300,000 shares of common stock of the Company at $0.0531 per share, which option vests quarterly over the eight calendar quarters.

 

In addition, Mrs. Buban shall be entitled to receive a five-year stock option to purchase up to 7,110,000 shares of common stock of the Company at an exercise price of $0.0531 per share, which vests upon the attainment of certain defined annual financial metrics, as set forth in the Buban Employment Agreement. A measurement was made for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 and no expense was recorded based upon the vesting criteria not being met.

 

 

On January 17, 2022, the Company entered into an agreement with The Crone Law Group, PC (“CLG”) for the provision of legal services. In consideration therefor, the Company will pay CLG a monthly flat fee of $3,000 for SEC reporting work and its normal hourly rate for other legal work and issued 1,000,000 shares of common stock with a fair market value of $27,500 to CLG.

 

On May 2, 2022, the Company entered into a two-year employment agreement with Steven Gagas (the “Gagas Employment Agreement”) pursuant to which Mr. Gagas shall serve as the General Manager of the dive shop currently operating within LBI. In consideration for his services Mr. Gagas shall receive an annual salary of $50,000.

 

On May 2, 2022, LBI, entered into a lease assignment agreement with Gold Coast Scuba, LLC and Vicnsons Realty Group, LLC whereby LBI is the assignee of a three year lease for the property located at 259 Commercial Blvd., Suites 2 and 3 in Lauderdale-By-The Sea, Florida for $2,816 per month base rent. The lease expired on March 31, 2023 and LBI is currently renting on a month to month basis. LBI has the option to renew the lease for a two year term with an increase of base rent of 3.5%.

 

On September 14, 2022, SSI entered into a sixty-month lease renewal for its facility in Huntington Beach, California commencing on February 1, 2022 with base rent of approximately $17,550 per month for the first 24 months with an annual escalation clause of 3.0% thereafter. Obligations under the lease are guaranteed by the Company. The Company paid an additional security deposit of $10,727 upon entering into the lease.

 

On September 30, 2022, SSI entered into a sublease of its facility in Huntington Beach, California with Camburg Engineering, Inc. (“Tenant”) commencing October 1, 2022, The term of the sublease is through December 31, 2023 with a base monthly rent of $2,247 for the first twelve months with an 3% annual escalation thereafter. The Tenant also pays a monthly common area maintenance of $112. The Tenant provided a security deposit of $2,426 upon entering into the sublease.

 

On December 22, 2022, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (the “CPSC”) issued a voluntary recall notice for the Nomad tankless dive system, which is distributed by BLU3, Inc. As part of the recall procedure, the CPSC has approved the Company’s proposed remedy for the recall and BLU3 will begin to receive units back from consumers to repair affected Nomad units. The Company has evaluated the costs of this recall and has deemed it necessary to set an allowance of $160,500 for such costs. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 the Company repaired and returned 133 and 653 units, respectively, to customers resulting in a reduction of the reserve of $18,975 and $93,161 for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, respectively.

 

Legal

 

The Company was a defendant in an action, Basil Vann, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Jeffrey William Morris v. Brownie’s Marine Group, Inc., filed on May 6, 2019 in the Circuit Court of the 17th Judicial Circuit, Broward County, Florida. The complaint, which relates to consulting services provided to the Company by the deceased between 2005 and 2017, alleges breach of contract and quantum meruit and is seeking $15,870.97 in unpaid consulting fees together with interest. In April 2020, the Company filed a Motion to Dismiss, and at a hearing held in May 2021, the Court struck certain allegations contained in the complaint, the parties agreed that the quantum meruit allegation is deemed to be an alternative to the breach of contract allegation but permitted certain other allegations to stand. The parties entered mediation pursuant to the Court’s order. This action was settled for $10,000 on July 12, 2021. The Company paid monthly installments of $1,000. The settlement was fully paid during the second quarter of 2022.