The copyright infringement lawsuit over Miley Cyrus’ Flowers is remarkable for the large number of people and businesses it is suing – from Cyrus herself to Flowers’ songwriters and publishers, to several streaming services that offer the song, to retailers that sell it.
But lawyers for Miley Cyrus say it’s remarkable for the reverse reason: The small number of plaintiffs who allege Flowers ripped off Bruno Mars’ When I Was Your Man.
Cyrus’ lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the case has a “fatal flaw”: Only Tempo Music – the music rights investor that owns a part of the rights to Flowers – has filed the lawsuit, and the other owners of the composition, including Mars, haven’t joined the case.
Tempo Music “brings this copyright infringement action alone – without any of that musical composition’s co-authors or other owners,” Cyrus’ lawyers wrote in a memorandum arguing for the dismissal, which can be read in full here.
“The Copyright Act expressly provides that only a legal or beneficial owner of an exclusive copyright right may sue for infringement. [Tempo Music] is neither and, as a result, it lacks standing to bring this action.”
Tempo Music brought the lawsuit this past September, telling the US District Court for the Central District of California that it had bought a catalog of rights in 2020 from songwriter Philip Lawrence, including his share as co-author of Mars’ 2013 hit When I Was Your Man. The song has three other co-authors: Bruno Mars, Ari Levine, and Andrew Wyatt.
Tempo’s lawsuit alleges that Flowers “duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements of When I Was Your Man, including the melodic pitch design and sequence of the verse, the connecting bass-line, certain bars of the chorus, certain theatrical music elements, lyric elements, and specific chord progressions.”
When Flowers came out in early 2023, many listeners noted the similarity between the song’s lyrics and the lyrics of When I Was Your Man.
For instance, When I Was Your Man features the line “I should have bought you flowers and held your hand,” while Flowers contains the line “I can buy myself flowers and I can hold my own hand.”
Many interpreted this to be an intentional echo of the Bruno Mars lyrics – a “kiss-off” to Cyrus’ ex, Liam Hemsworth, who is said to be a fan of Bruno Mars and When I Was Your Man.
However, Cyrus’ lawyers deny that any similarities infringe on copyright.
“The allegedly copied elements are random, scattered, unprotected ideas and musical building blocks,” they wrote.
Musical “building blocks” – basic elements of a song – are not copyrightable.
Tempo’s lawsuit cast a very wide net, suing Cyrus and Sony Music Entertainment, which owns the label on which Flowers was released, along with Flowers co-writers Gregory “Aldae” Hein and Michael Pollack, and music publishers Concord Music Publishing, Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., and MCEO Inc.
It also names as defendants streaming services Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Pandora, SoundCloud, TIDAL, and Qobuz (though not Spotify, where Flowers is available), plus broadcaster iHeartRadio and retailers Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart, who the lawsuit says sold physical or digital copies of Flowers.
It also names concert giant Live Nation, for selling the song through Cyrus’ official online store, and Disney, over a documentary in which Cyrus performs Flowers.
Flowers was the biggest-selling single globally in 2023, according to IFPI. It spent a total of eight weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and 57 weeks at the top of the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
When I Was Your Man, released a decade before Flowers, topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2013, and has been certified Platinum 11 times by the RIAA.
Cyrus’ lawyers asked the court to dismiss the case “with prejudice,” meaning Tempo Music wouldn’t be able to refile the case. They also asked the court to order Tempo Music to pay their court and legal fees.Music Business Worldwide
