Miley Cyrus is bound to face last year’s lawsuit over similarities between her hit song Flowers and Bruno Mars’ ballad When I Was Your Man.
A judge denied Cyrus’ request for dismissal of a lawsuit from Tempo Music Investments on Tuesday, noting a misunderstanding on Cyrus and her legal team’s part.
For those unversed, the Flowers hitmaker was sued in September 2024 by Tempo Music Investments, which owns a share of the copyright for Mars’ song after purchasing the catalog rights from the song’s co-writer Philip Lawrence.
The company alleged in its filing that Cyrus’ 2023 hit song “duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements” and that there was “unauthorised reproduction, distribution and exploitation” of Mars’ 2013 track When I Was Your Man.
Flowers‘ songwriters Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack were included among multiple defendants, along with Sony Music Publishing and Apple. However, Mars, 39, was not named in the lawsuit.
Tempo Music Investments has sought an undetermined amount of damages besides asking that the defendants listed stop reproducing, distributing, or publicly performing Flowers.
Cyrus denied the allegations in November 2024 and filed to dismiss the lawsuit, saying only owners of the exclusive rights can take legal action over it.
In the recent ruling, the court said Cyrus and her lawyers had a “misunderstanding” of the legal precedent surrounding what “exclusive” means.
“Ownership of ‘exclusive rights’ is not to be conflated with ‘exclusive ownership’ of rights. The ‘exclusive rights’ are what is owned collectively by the co‐owners,” the order states, per People Magazine.
“Lawrence’s interest was a co‐ownership interest in the exclusive rights of the copyright,” the judge elaborated.
“By transferring all of that interest, Tempo now steps into Lawrence’s shoes and is a co‐owner of the exclusive rights of the copyright,” the filing read.
In a statement, Tempo Music Investments’ lawyer said they were “thrilled” but not “surprised” by the ruling.
“Our client is looking forward to having this case proceed to be resolved on its merits and are extremely confident in prevailing,” said their attorney Alex Weingarten.
