Press Association
Miley Cyrus is the latest star to be hit with accusations of stealing other people’s songs after she was named in a $300 million copyright infringement lawsuit on Tuesday, March 13.
Jamaican songwriter Michael ‘Flourgon’ May filed the documents claiming that Cyrus’ song “We Can’t Stop” too closely resembles his song called “We Run Things” which he made 25 years ago according to a report from Reuters.
In the lawsuit May says, “We Run Things” has been “a favorite for lovers of reggae music worldwide,” ever since it became a number one dancehall hit back in 1988 and also states that about 50 percent of Cyrus’ 2013 song is from his hit. Meanwhile Cyrus is just one of many credited as the songwriters on the song including Mike ‘Mike Will Made It’ Williams, Pierre ‘P-Nasty’ Slaughter, Theron and Timothy Thomas, Douglas ‘Doug E. Fresh’ Davis and Ricky ‘Slick Rick’ Walters.
Of the particular phrases mentioned in the lawsuit, May pointed to his phrase, “We run things. Things no run we,” which is sung as, “We run things. Things don’t run we,” in “We Can’t Stop.”
May also stated that last year he made sure to seek protection for his work with the U.S. Copyright Office and won “formal copyright protection” for all of the musical arrangements in “We Run Things.” He ALSO said Cyrus’ song “owes the basis of its chart-topping popularity to and its highly-lucrative success to plaintiff May’s protected, unique, creative and original content.”
In addition to the lawsuit, May is also seeking “a halt to further sales and performances of ‘We Can’t Stop,'” according to his complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.