Miley Cyrus settles $300m copyright lawsuit with Jamaican artist Flourgon

Miley Cyrus has reached a settlement with legendary Jamaican dancehall artist Michael May, better known by his stage name, Flourgon.

He filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against her for her 2013 multi-platinum selling hit single, We Can’t Stop.

According to Reuters, May, Cyrus, Sony and other defendants signed a joint stipulation ending the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on Friday. This means the lawsuit cannot be filed again.

Lawyers for Cyrus disclosed they had signed a settlement agreement in a December 12 letter, adding that it would be filed “pending payment of the settlement proceeds.”

The terms of the settlement are, however, unknown.

May filed the lawsuit at a federal court in New York in March 2018, claiming Cyrus’ We Can’t Stop borrows heavily from his 1988 Jamaican chart-topping hit single We Run Things.

“We run things, things don’t run we”, a line which May used in his song also features in Cyrus’ single. In the complaint, May, who claims to be the originator of that phrase claimed We Can’t Stop owed its chart-topping and lucrative success to his original work.

He, therefore, appealed to the court to halt the sale, distribution and performance of the song. May’s attorney also told CNN at the time of the suit that $300 million “would be a reasonable compensation.”

Besides Cyrus, May also sued songwriters Theron Thomas and Timothy Thomas (better known as Rock City), producer Mike Williams (better known as Mike Will Made It) as well as Sony Records and RCA records.

The single, which was off her Bangerz album went up to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 2013. The number one spot at that time was held by another smash single, Blurred Lines, that was also at the center of a copyright lawsuit filed by Marvin Gaye’s family.

After a five-year legal battle, a California court ordered the composers, Robin Thicke and Pharrell to pay $5 million in damages to Gaye’s family last year after they were accused of copying his 1977 hit song Got to Give it Up.