Mariah Carey Hit w/ $20M Copyright Lawsuit over 'All I Want for Christmas is You'

[JamesG]

Mariah Carey Hit with $20 Million Copyright Lawsuit over 'All I Want for Christmas is You'
by Sara Netzley
June 4, 2022


Legendary songstress Mariah Carey has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit over her 1994 holiday classic 'All I Want for Christmas is You'. Songwriter Andy Stone filed a complaint in New Orleans federal court on Friday alleging that he co-wrote a song in 1990 with the same title as Carey's enduring yuletide banger.

Stone, who serves as the frontman for country-pop band Vince Vance & the Valiants, is asking for a minimum of $20 million in damages, and he named Carey, her co-writer, and Sony Music Entertainment in the suit, claiming they illegally exploited his "popularity and unique style."

Stone argues that his song charted on Billboard and enjoyed "extensive airplay" in 1993, and that attempts to come to an agreement with Carey and the other co-defendants in April 2021 were unsuccessful.

https://ew.com/music/mariah-carey-co...istmas-is-you/

[JO Sweet Heart]

My only question is why is this only just now happening? Both songs have been out there forever.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

[Edward216]

Originally Posted by JO Sweet Heart

My only question is why is this only just now happening? Both songs have been out there forever.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

Exactly. And anyways, he's suing over the use of the title, but nobody can claim sole ownership of any song title. There are probably hundreds of songs that share a title, so I don't think his lawsuit has a prayer of succeeding.

Ed.

[JO Sweet Heart]

^^^ Amen. There are plenty of songs in country music that have the same name. "How Was I To Know?" from Reba McEntire and John Michael Montgomery are the first pair of songs that come to my mind.

God bless you and them always!!!

Holly

[Hawkee]

When you look at the general picture when you have a Christmas song that becomes a worldwide hit for years to come it generally means that when you're an artist a Christmas song means that you will make an important milestone in history for years to come. When Mariah Carey released All I Want For Christmas Is You as the first single off her Merry Christmas album in 1994 little did the world know that this song would become an iconic hit during the holidays. And since then All I Want For Christmas Is You has been covered by artists such as Michael Buble Dolly Parton The Cheetah Girls and countless others. But if you listen to the Vince Vance And The Valiants version you'll see that it has completely different lyrics that have NOTHING to do with Mariah Carey's version and what I think why Vince Vance And The Valiants want to sue Mariah is so they can get whatever money that will be given to her. But many songs use identical titles and the artists never get into lawsuits with other artists over copywriting song titles. The Beatles song P.S. I Love You is an example and way before The Beatles used P.S. I Love You as a song title P.S. I Love You was a song that was a hit in the 1940's during World War II and the late country singer Tom T. Hall as well as Bette Midler sang it as well but The Beatles never got a copyright lawsuit over P.S. I Love You and the original version has different lyrics than The Beatles version. But I hope Mariah wins her lawsuit with luck and success
Bestie