Mariah Carey Sued For Copyright Infringement Over ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ Hit Song
American recording artiste, Mariah Carey is being sued for $20 million for copyright infringement over her 1994 Christmas mega-hit, All I Want for Christmas is You.
Songwriter, Andy Stone says he co-wrote a song with the same name five years earlier, arguing that the award winning musician exploited his “popularity” and “style“.
In the lawsuit obtained by TMZ, Andy stated that he recorded his song in 1989. He said it made it to the Billboard charts in the 1993 festive period and he even has a music video.
Despite sharing a title, the two songs appear musically different, but Andy claims Mariah Carey caused confusion and did not ask for permission.
Andy Stone, who performs under the name Vince Vance with the band Vince Vance and the Valiants, is claiming at least $20million (£16m) in damages.
The complaint says that Carey, as well as her co-writer, Walter Afanasieff and record label Sony Music Entertainment, have earned “undeserved profits” from the song.
He argued that the defendants “knowingly, willfully, and intentionally engaged in a campaign” to infringe copyright.
Meanwhile, Carey is yet to respond to this claim as at the time of filing this report.
Carey‘s All I Want for Christmas is You has been regarded as one of the best known Christmas records of all time.
Since appearing on the album, Merry Christmas in 1994, it has yearly topped music charts in several countries and by 2017 had reportedly earned Carey more than $60m (£48m) in royalties.
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The song has been streamed one billion times on Spotify.
In a recent memoir, Carey admitted to composing “most of the song on a cheap little Casio keyboard“.
During the Christmas period last year, the track is said to have bagged the star a whopping almost $50million (£40million).
