Miley Cyrus’ Dismissal Bid Ignores Copyright Law, Plaintiff Says

Miley Cyrus’ argument that she can’t be sued by a partial rightsholder of Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” undermines copyright transfer rules under the federal statute, according to the plaintiff accusing her of ripping off the song in her 2023 hit “Flowers.”

Granting Cyrus and her co-defendants’ bid to dismiss Tempo Music Investments LLC’s lawsuit would effectively “invent a new rule” that a co-author can only transfer ownership or “profit interest” in a work but not the right to sue, Tempo Music argued in a filing Monday in the US District Court for the Central District of California. ...