Sept 17 (Reuters) - Pop star Miley Cyrus copied fellow

megastar Bruno Mars' hit "When I Was Your Man" in her number-one

single "Flowers," according to a copyright lawsuit filed in

California federal court.

The complaint, filed on Monday by music-rights owner Tempo

Music Investments, said that "Flowers" duplicates "numerous

melodic, harmonic and lyrical elements" of Mars' song, which

topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2013.

Spokespeople for Cyrus' label Sony Music and

attorneys and spokespeople for Tempo did not immediately respond

to a request for comment on the lawsuit on Tuesday.

Mars is not a party in the lawsuit, and spokespeople for his

label, Warner Music Group's ( WMG ) Atlantic Records, declined

to comment. Tempo said in the complaint that it bought its share

of "When I Was Your Man" from the song's co-writer Philip

Lawrence in 2020.

The lawsuit also accused streaming-service owners including

Apple ( AAPL ) and Amazon ( AMZN ) and retailers including

Target ( TGT ) and Walmart ( WMT ) of infringing Tempo's

copyright by distributing Cyrus' song. Spokespeople for the

companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Cyrus released "Flowers" on her 2023 album "Endless Summer

Vacation." "Flowers" has more than 1 billion streams on Spotify ( SPOT )

and won the Grammy award for Song of the Year in 2024.

Tempo's lawsuit said that "Flowers" has "striking

similarities" to "When I Was Your Man," including melodies, bass

lines, chord progressions and lyrical elements. It also cited a

Billboard article from 2023, which said that "any listener can

detect that [Mars' song] boasts a chorus that is the inverse of

what Cyrus sings on 'Flowers.'"

Tempo asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary

damages and an order blocking the alleged infringement.