“Flowers” by Miley Cyrus: plagiarism not rejected

The legal dispute around Miley Cyrus’ (32) Grammy-crowned hit “Flowers” goes into the next round. A US federal judge has rejected the singer’s request to dismiss the copyright lawsuit against her. The musical investment company Tempo Music Investments filed a lawsuit against the singer in September 2023.

In essence, it is about the accusation that “Flowers” is an unauthorized “use” by Bruno Mars’ (39) Hit “When I was your man” from 2013. Tempo Music claims to have part of the rights to Mars’ Song after they were acquired by his co-author Phil Lawrence. In the lawsuit, the company calls for compensation and a judicial order that Cyrus would prohibit reproduction, distribution or public performance of the song.

In addition to Cyrus, their co-authors Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack as well as several companies such as Sony Music Publishing, Apple, Target and Walmart were also mentioned as defendants who were involved in the spread of the song.

And argues that the case has a “fatal mistake”: Bruno Mars and his other co-authors have decided not to complain. According to “Rolling Stone”, her lawyer Peter Anderson said that Tempo Music had only acquired “non-exclusive rights” on the song, which was not sufficient for US copyright to file a lawsuit.

After a hearing, judge Dean D. Pregerson indicated that he believes that Tempo Music has the right to continue the lawsuit. “If someone wants to buy what someone owns, they buy the whole thing, and that includes the right to enforce this property against the rest of the world – if you do not allow it, then reduce the value of what you sell, to the point where it can become worthless,” the music magazine quoted the judge.

Tempo lawyer Alex Weingarten said in court that the rule proposed by Cyrus’ team would turn the entire music industry, even the technology industry, upside down “.

There was no final decision on Monday, since Judge Pregerson took the application for dismissal after hearing Cyrus’ lawyer for advice.

“Flowers” was published in 2023 as the first single from Miley Cyrus’ eight studio album “Endless Summer Vacation” and developed into a global success. The song landed in the charts in both the UK and the USA. In addition, “Flowers” was the world’s best-selling single in 2023 and brought Cyrus two Grammys to admit the year and the best pop solo performance.