Miley Cyrus, Sony Music Publishing, and several other entities are facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over alleged similarities between Cyrus's hit song "Flowers" and Bruno Mars' "When I Was Your Man."

Tempo Music Investments, which acquired rights to "When I Was Your Man" through co-writer Philip Lawrence in 2020, filed the lawsuit in California federal court. The company claims "Flowers" wouldn't exist without Mars' 2012 release, which has garnered 2.26 billion Spotify streams.

The lawsuit alleges "Flowers" duplicates multiple elements from Mars' track, including:

• Melodic pitch design and verse sequence
• Connecting bass-line
• Specific chorus sections
• Theatrical music elements
• Lyric elements
• Chord progressions

The lawsuit extends beyond Cyrus to include:

• Fellow "Flowers" co-writers
• Sony Music Publishing
• Concord
• Streaming services (Apple, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, SoundCloud)
• Live Nation
• Retailers (Walmart, Target)

The defendants are accused of participating in the reproduction, distribution, and exploitation of "Flowers," which has achieved remarkable commercial success with over 2.20 billion Spotify streams and holds the record for fastest track to reach one billion streams on the platform.

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