Mariah Carey is facing another $20 million lawsuit over her iconic holiday song “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” The singer is one of the defendants in a new “copyright infringement and unjust enrichment” civil lawsuit from Andy Stone, who performs as Vince Vance and the Valiants, as is co-writer Walter Afanasieff, and Sony Music Entertainment. Stone alleges that Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” infringes on a song of the same name he co-wrote in Nashville and released in 1989.
Stone and co-writer Troy Powers, who is also a plaintiff on the current case, filed a similar lawsuit in Louisiana last June before it was dropped five months later. In the new lawsuit, obtained by PEOPLE, Stone’s attorneys argue. that his “All I Want for Christmas Is You” did receive radio play in 1993 and appeared on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart the following year, around the same time Carey’s certified diamond Christmas classic was released.
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Stone claims that Carey copied the “compositional structure” of his song, despite acknowledging that the phrase “all I want for Christmas is you” dates back to before either song was released. Stone’s attorneys claim that Carey and her co-writers “undoubtedly had access” to Stone’s song of the same name “given its wide commercial and cultural success.” The court documents allege, “Defendants knew or should have known that ‘All I Want or Christmas is You’ could not be used in a musical work by Defendants without a license and/or songwriting credit, as is customary practice in the music industry.”
Plaintiffs are asking for $20 million in damages and demand a jury trial. In Stone’s previous lawsuit against Carey, he complained that the lyrics between both songs contain “substantial similarities” and “tell the same story, incorporating the same arc from beginning to end, of an individual who wants their partner more than material goods or seasonal comforts.”
Carey’s representative has yet to comment publicly on the lawsuit. Carey’s song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has become a holiday classic since its 1994 release, topping the Billboard Hot 100 and selling more than 10 million copies, making it the only Christmas song to have been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America.
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NEW YORK CITY – DECEMBER 19: "Toil and Trouble" – Elsbeth is thrown into the world of television after the showrunner of a long-running police procedural is brutally murdered in his office, and although it appears to be the act of a disgruntled fan, she begins to suspect the show's longtime star Regina Coburn (Laurie Metcalf) who yearns for artistic fulfillment. Meanwhile, Judge Crawford (Michael Emerson) continues to be a thorn in Elsbeth's side, on the CBS original series ELSBETH, Thursday, Dec. 19 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs). Pictured (L-R): Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni and Carra Patterson as Kaya Blanke. (Photo by Michael Parmelee/CBS via Getty Images)
