Fresh start – it’s what we often associate to a new year, which was probably why singer Miley Cyrus decided to settle an infringement case stemming from her hit We Won’t Stop, a song which was nominated for MTV Video Music Award for Best Song of the Summer. It looks like the former Disney child star is not living for any drama right now.
Just four days into 2020 and Miley has already done a lot … and by a lot, we mean patching things up with a man called Flourgon, or Michael May in real life. Way back March 2018, the Jamaican songwriter sued the Wrecking Ball hitmaker, claiming she stole about half of his 1998 track We Run Things for the fan-fave We Can’t Stop.
Specifically, the plaintiff asserted that Miley and label RCA Records misappropriated some parts of his song, which he claimed ranked No. 1 in his home country, and just changed some phrases. Apart from Miley, other writers of We Can’t Stop are Pierre Slaughter (P-Nasty), Timothy and Theron Thomas (Rock City), and Mike Williams (Mike Will Made It).
The $300-million lawsuit was finally settled by Miley for an undisclosed amount. Recently, she, Fluorgon, and Sony, which owns RCA Records, went to the Manhattan federal court for the filing of a stipulation – which basically means the plaintiff couldn’t file the same case anew.
In December last year, Miley’s camp revealed that a settlement was reached between the two parties, although the stipulation would happen once the payment was done.
More about We Can’t Stop, it was one of the most-requested during its heyday and even reached the second spot in Billboard’s Hot 100. What beat it to the top spot was Blurred Lines, the controversial hit of Robin Thicke.
Similar Cases
Interestingly, Blurred Lines also faced a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Marvin Gaye’s estate. In 2018, the Court of Appeals upheld the 2015 ruling that favored the plaintiff against Robin and Pharrell Williams.
The verdict stated that the two artists indeed infringed the copyright of Got To Give It Up, a 1977 hit, thereby ordering Robin and Pharrell to pay $5.3 million to Marvin’s estate.
Katy Perry was also slapped with a lawsuit stemming from her 2014 song Dark Horse, which a Christian rapper called Flame said copied key elements from his rap hit Joyful Noise. Judges last year awarded the plaintiff more than $2.7 million in damages, and as expected, the pop star’s team is appealing the ruling.
