Mariah Carey Sued over Song "All I Want for Christmas Is You"

Mariah Carey is sued for copyright infringement over her 1994 Christmas hit song "All I Want for Christmas Is You" – nearly 30 years after it was released.

Since its release, the song which features on the pop star album Merry Christmas has become a global classic and a firm favorite in the pop Christmas canon.

The 53-year-old US singer and her co-writer Walter Afanasieff are named in a lawsuit brought by the songwriter Andy Stone claiming that Carey and her collaborators knowingly, wilfully, and intentionally engaged in a campaign to infringe Stone’s copyright for the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrGGIoDL6U4

According to legal documents filed at the US district court in the eastern district of Louisiana, Stone alleged that he co-wrote a song with the same name and did not give permission for it to be used.

The two songs have different lyrics and melodies.

Nonetheless, Stone, whose band Vince Vance and the Valiants recorded and released their song in 1989, has accused Carey and Afanasieff of behaving in a manner that was “designed to exploit the popularity and unique style” of his song, according to court documents obtained by PA Media. It had “caused confusion”, the documents added.

The documents also claimed that Carey and Afanasieff committed acts of unjust enrichment by the unauthorized appropriation of the plaintiff’s work and the goodwill associated therewith”.

Merry Christmas, which was released by Columbia Records on 1 November 1994, became the best-selling US Christmas album of all time, selling more than 15m copies worldwide.

The complaint states that Stone’s lawyers first got in touch with Carey and her co-defendants last year, but were unable to come to any agreement.

There are 177 entries listed with the United States Copyright Office under the name of the song.

In her 2020 memoir, "The Meaning of Mariah Carey", she recalled her songwriting process for the hit, which she said was not originally inspired by Christmas.

“I actually did bang out most of the song on a cheap little Casio keyboard, but it’s the feeling I wanted the song to capture. There’s a sweetness, a clarity, and a purity to it,” she wrote.