Miley Cyrus is facing a $300 million copyright infringement lawsuit over her hit song 'We Can't Stop'

AP Images

Miley Cyrus.

• Pop singer Miley Cyrus is facing a $300 million copyright infringement lawsuit over her hit 2013 single, "We Can't Stop."
• The Jamaican songwriter Michael May, whose stage name is Flourgon, claims that Cyrus' "We Can't Stop" closely resembles his 1988 single "We Run Things."
• May said in the suit that Cyrus' song took "about 50 percent" from his song, including musical elements and the phrase, "We run things / Things no run we."
• Cyrus' "We Can't Stop" hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after its release in June 2013. 
• May's "We Run Things" reached No. 1 in his home country, Jamaica, in 1988. 

Pop singer Miley Cyrus is facing a $300 million copyright infringement lawsuit from the Jamaican songwriter Michael May, who claims that Cyrus' 2013 hit single "We Can't Stop" closely resembles a song he wrote in 1988, Reuters reports. 

May, whose stage name is Flourgon, said in the suit that Cyrus' song took "about 50 percent" from his song "We Run Things" - including musical elements and the phrase,"We run things / Things no run we," which Cyrus sings in a chorus as, "We run things / Things don't run we."

Cyrus' "We Can't Stop" hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after its release in June 2013. May's "We Run Things" reached No. 1 in his home country, Jamaica, in 1988. 

In the suit, filed at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday, May's lawyers said that 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 seeking $300 million in the case, May is also seeking a halt to subsequent sales and performances of Cyrus' song. 

Listen to Cyrus' "We Can't Stop" and May's "We Run Things" below: