Sarah Grace Meyn

Miley Cyrus is currently battling in court against Tempo Music, who alleged similarities between her hit song “Flowers” and Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man.” Contrary to popular belief, Bruno Mars himself is not affiliated with the lawsuit. Tempo Music acquired a portion of the rights to Bruno’s song after buying the catalog of Phillip Lawrence, a co-writer of the song.
Vocal lines, chords, melodies, harmonies, pitch, sequence, and lyrics are all components of “Flowers” that Tempo Music believes Miley infringed on in relation to Bruno’s song, according to the lawsuit obtained by Fox Business. Bruno’s “I should’ve bought you flowers and held your hand” lyrics are being compared by Tempo Music to Cyrus’ “I can buy myself flowers” and “I can hold my own hand.” The lawsuit and lawyers representing Tempo Music claim that Miley did not gain all of this success for her smash hit song on her own and that it was mainly thanks to Bruno’s 2012 hit.
The lawsuit, which was filed in September, was met with a motion to dismiss by Cyrus’ legal team, stating that Tempo could not sue under U.S. copyright law as it did not own the “exclusive rights” to the song. The judge presiding over the case disagreed, stating Tempo is still a co-owner of the rights and has the ability to sue. The judge also stated that deciding the co-owner could not sue would set a dangerous precedent, as nobody would be interested in purchasing partial rights to a song if they did not have true ownership of it.
If Tempo Music wins, it will set a precedent for years to come that co-owners of a song have the ability to legally defend its rights without the permission of the other owners. It will also mean Cyrus will have to pay Tempo $300 million, credit the writers of Mars’ song, and likely owe a substantial portion, if not all, of the royalties made from the song in the future. Although rare, some argue that Cyrus’ Grammy awards she won for “Flowers” could also have the potential to be revoked. As the case unfolds, the music world will be watching closely to see how this high-stakes legal battle plays out.