Miley Cyrus’ attempt to dismiss ‘Flowers’ plagiarism lawsuit dismissed
A judge has rejected Miley Cyrus‘ attempt to dismiss a plagiarism lawsuit against her hit song, ‘Flowers.’
In the lawsuit filed in September 2024, Tempo Music Investments accused ‘Flowers’ of using identical melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements from Bruno Mars’ 2013 single ‘When I Was Your Man’. In Cyrus’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which she filed in November, she rejected the infringement claims and claimed Tempo lacked any legal standing upon which they could rightfully sue.
Cyrus claimed that Tempo, who purchased a fractional share of the song from one of that song’s four co-authors, Philip Lawrence, did not retain the same standing to sue that Lawrence had before he sold his fractional share.
Previously, during a court hearing in downtown Los Angeles on March 10th, US District Judge Dean D Pregerson outlined that he believed plaintiff Tempo Music Investments had grounds to continue with their lawsuit against Cyrus, which has now been formalised in a new ruling.
In the new ruling, which was made on March 18th, the judge stated that Cyrus and her legal team made a “misunderstanding” regarding the legal precedent of plagiarism claims. He said their filing, which claimed Tempo had no legal standing due to not having the consent of the other three songwriters of When I Was Your Man, was “incorrect.” However, the judge noted that Tempo has an “exclusive right” rather than “exclusive ownership.”
The ruling, per Variety, reads: “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. Because Lawrence as a co‐owner could sue for infringement, Tempo as co‐owner, in lieu of Lawrence, can sue for infringement without joining the other co‐owners of the copyright.”
In a statement to Variety, lawyer Alex Weingarten for Tempo said: “We are thrilled but not the least 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.”
The case is now set to head to trial at a later date.
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