Did Mariah Carey copy All I Want for Christmas Is You? Copyright lawsuit dismissed

US Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani has ruled in favor of Mariah Carey on March 19, giving her and co-writer and co-defendant Walter Afanasieff a victory without the case going to trial, meaning it has been ruled that the singer didn't copy All I Want for Christmas Is You. Andy Stone and co-writer Troy Powers filed a lawsuit against the singer in 2022, alleging that Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You is similar to their 1989 country song of the same name.

The two alleged "copyright infringement and unjust enrichment" over the popular song. Court documents obtained by People Magazine show mention that Carey's song imitated the "compositional structure" of Stone's song. The country singer sought $20 million. The singer dropped the lawsuit in November 2022 only to refile it again in November 2023 with the same accusations. The artist claimed,

"Carey has without licensing, palmed off these works with her incredilous origin story, as if those works were her own. Her hubris knows no bounds, even her co-credited songwriter doesn't believe the story she has spun. This is simply a case of actionable infringement."

The recent court documents obtained from the March 19 ruling say that Stone et al.'s case has "an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case." The documents also note that Mariah Carey's song did not originate from Stone's song. While responding to the recent court judgement, Andy's lawyer, Gerard P. Fox, in an email to the Associated Press, said that he was "disappointed."

He also mentioned,

"My client will make a decision shortly on whether to appeal. We filed based on the opinions of two esteemed musicologists who teach at great colleges."

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Why was the lawsuit against Mariah Carey dismissed?

US Judge Ramirez Almadani, while ruling in Mariah Carey's favor in a recent proceeding of the lawsuit against her famous Christmas song, All I Want For Christmas Is You, agreed with the defense.

Judge Almadani agreed that writers for both the songs used common Christmas cliches that existed before both the songs were released, and Mariah Carey's song has used them differently.

Judge Almadani also ordered sanctions against the plaintiffs and their lawyers, claiming that Andy's lawyer "made no reasonable effort to ensure that the factual contentions asserted have evidentiary support" and ordered them to pay at least part of Carey's legal fees.

Carey had responded to the lawsuit in January 2024 and told the court that the two songs are "completely different" and the claim was "outrageous and insulting." Carey also went on to claim that Andy's band's song was copied from Bobby Vinton's 1964 hit My Heart Belongs Only To You.