Miley Cyrus‘ endless summer vacation was interrupted with a bold legal filing. Although the “Doctor (Work It Out)” singer is working on new music, her previously released project could land her in court.
Back in September, Miley Cyrus was accused of plagiarizing Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” for her Grammy Award-winning single, “Flowers.” According to People, Cyrus is fighting back against the copyright infringement lawsuit.
Documents obtained by the outlet show that Cyrus’ legal team have filed to get the suit dismissed focusing on a technicality. Although Cyrus’ denies the accusation, her lawyers have sited that because the suit wasn’t filed by Mars or any of the song’s co-writers (Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, and Andrew Wyatt) it has no standing.
“Only owners of exclusive rights may sue for copyright infringement,” reads the response. “An assignee of only one co-author lacks exclusive rights and, therefore, also lacks standing to sue for infringement.”
For clarity, Mars, Lawrence, Levine, nor Wyatt are plaintiffs in the matter. The copyright lawsuit was actually filed by Tempo Music Investments. Tempo Music Investments is only a partial copyright holder after acquiring Lawrence’s catalog.
The presiding judge in the matter has not yet issued a decision regarding Cyrus’ motion.