Pop star Miley Cyrus lost an early bid to dismiss a lawsuit in California federal court that accused her of unlawfully copying Bruno Mars’ song “When I Was Your Man” for her number-one hit “Flowers.”
On Tuesday, US District Judge Dean Pregerson rejected, Cyrus’ argument that Tempo Music Investments, which said it owns a share of the copyright in Mars’ song, could not bring the lawsuit.
Tempo is unaffiliated with Mars, who is not involved in the lawsuit.
Spokespeople and attorneys for Cyrus’ label Sony Music did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision on Wednesday.
Tempo attorney Alex Weingarten of Willkie Farr & Gallagher said on Wednesday that the company is “thrilled but not the least surprised” by the decision and “extremely confident in prevailing” in the case.
Cyrus released “Flowers” on her 2023 album “Endless Summer Vacation.” “Flowers” has over 1 billion streams on Spotify and won the Song of the Year Grammy award in 2024.
Tempo sued Cyrus and Sony Music in September, arguing that “Flowers” duplicates “numerous melodic, harmonic and lyrical elements” of Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2013.
Tempo said in the complaint that it bought its share of “When I Was Your Man” from the song’s co-writer Philip Lawrence in 2020.
Cyrus and her song’s co-writers asked the court in November to dismiss the claims against them, arguing that Tempo lacked standing to sue under U.S. copyright law because it did not have “exclusive rights” to the song.
Pregerson ruled against Cyrus on Tuesday.
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“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,” Pregerson said.
The case is Tempo Music Investments LLC v. Cyrus, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 2:24-cv-07910.
For Tempo: Alex Weingarten, Amy Stern and Jeffrey Logan of Willkie Farr & Gallagher For Cyrus: Peter Anderson of Davis Wright Tremaine
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