In 2024, a company that owns a portion of the rights to Bruno Mars’ song “When I Was Your Man” sued Miley Cyrus, claiming her song “Flowers” ripped off Bruno’s hit. Her legal team is now asking for the case to be dismissed.
In the Monday court filing, obtained by ABC News, Miley’s team asked to be granted a summary judgment, meaning the case gets rejected without having to go to a jury. Their argument is that the music and lyrics of the two songs are not similar enough to count as copyright infringement. Plus, they argue any similarities that do exist are covered under the fair use doctrine.
“Fair use” means that if you use elements from copyrighted material to comment on an original work — like making an “answer record” — it’s allowed under the law. As the case notes, “‘Flowers’ can reasonably be perceived as transformative commentary or criticism on [‘When I Was Your Man’].”
“‘Flowers’ is a wholly original song, and its songwriters strenuously deny copying [Bruno’s song] or any portion of it intending to comment on [it],” Miley’s lawyers write. “But that is irrelevant to fair use, which instead considers whether a reasonable observer could interpret ‘Flowers’ as commenting on [‘When I Was Your Man’].”
Since “Flowers” was released, many fans have felt that it was indeed a sort of answer record to “When I Was Your Man,” which Miley’s lawyers cover in the filing. They write, “Even Plaintiff acknowledges that ‘Flowers’’ upbeat lyrics have been perceived as responding to ‘Man”s despondent lyrics.”
Their final argument, though, is this: Because “Flowers” came out nearly a decade after “When I Was Your Man,” it “did not negatively affect the market or potential market” for Bruno’s song. In fact, the lawyers note that streams of Bruno’s song increased 20% after the release of “Flowers.”
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