Miley Cyrus will have to move forward with a copyright lawsuit over her 2023 hit Flowers after a judge denied her legal team’s motion to dismiss.

Back in September, Tempo Music Investments – which owns a share of the Bruno Mars 2013 hit When I Was Your Man – filed a copyright infringement lawsuit claiming Cyrus’ Flowers infringed on When I Was Your Man. 

The company – which owns a share of the song after purchasing the catalog of the song’s co-songwriter Philip Lawrence – accused Cyrus of ‘intentionally copying’ When I Was Your Man for her hit Flowers.

Cyrus’ team filed a motion to dismiss in November, claiming the company has no legal right to sue, since they don’t own the ‘exclusive rights’ to the song.

A judge denied that motion on Tuesday, according to People, claiming Cyrus’ legal team had a ‘misunderstanding’ as to the ‘exclusive rights.

‘Ownership of ‘exclusive rights’ is not to be conflated with ‘exclusive ownership’ of rights. The ‘exclusive rights’ are what is owned collectively by the co‐owners,’ the order stated.

Miley Cyrus will have to move forward with a copyright lawsuit over her 2023 hit Flowers after a judge denied her legal team’s motion to dismiss

Back in September, Tempo Music Investments – which owns a share of the Bruno Mars 2013 hit When I Was Your Man – filed a copyright infringement lawsuit claiming Cyrus’ Flowers infringed on When I Was Your Man

The order added that co-writer Lawrence’s, ‘interest was a co‐ownership interest in the exclusive rights of the copyright.’  

‘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,’ the judge continued.

Read More Miley Cyrus denies plagiarizing Bruno Mars song for her Grammy-winning Flowers

A rep from Tempo Music Investments said in a statement that they were ‘thrilled’ by the judge’s ruling, though not ‘surprised’ by any means.

‘Our client is looking forward to having this case proceed to be resolved on its merits and are extremely confident in prevailing,’ Tempo attorney Alex Weingarten said.

The original lawsuit cited ‘striking similarities’ between Bruno Mars’ When I Was Your Man and Miley Cyrus’ Flowers.

Tempo alleged Flowers, ‘duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements’ of When I Was Your Man.

They also allege there was, ‘unauthorized reproduction, distribution and exploitation of Mars’ song.

Flowers co-writers Gregory Hein and Michael Pollack were also listed as defendants along with Sony Music Publishing and Apple, though Bruno Mars himself was not.

The original lawsuit cited ‘striking similarities’ between Bruno Mars’ When I Was Your Man and Miley Cyrus’ Flowers

Tempo alleged Flowers, ‘duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements’ of When I Was Your Man

When I Was Your Man was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014, but Flowers was even more successful

The lawsuit asks the defendants to stop reproducing, distributing or publicly performing the song along with unspecified damages.

Both songs were hits for their respective artists, and each reached number one on the Billboard H๏τ 100 singles chart.

When I Was Your Man was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014, but Flowers was even more successful.

The song won Record Of The Year — which honors songwriters — along with the award Mars was nominated for, Best Pop Solo Performance.

Flowers was also nominated for Song of the Year at the Grammys, though it didn’t win.