Mariah Carey sued for allegedly stealing 'All I Want for Christmas is You'

MANILA, Philippines — Singer Mariah Carey has been hit with a $20 million (P1.05 billion) lawsuit over copyright infringement for her iconic holiday song "All I Want for Christmas is You."

Andy Stone, a songwriter from Louisiana, United States and member of country pop group Vince Vance & the Valiants, named Mariah and songwriter Walter Afansieff in a lawsuit which claims his1989 song of the same name is being infringed.

Apart from the $20 million for copyright infringment, Andy is also asking for at least $40 million (P2.1 billion) for unjust enrichment and violations of the American Trademark Act.

Mariah's song was released in 1994 and has been a staple tune every Christmas season ever since.

In the lawsuit Any claims that his own song received extensive airplay during the 1993 holiday season and that Mariah and Walter “intentionally engaged in a campaign to infringe” his copyright.

Los Angeles attorney Pamela Koslyn, who specializes in music and intellectual property rights, shared to Deadline that there are more than 170 works — mostly musical compositions —have the same title as the two songs.

“Song titles aren’t entitled to copyright protection,” Koslyn said, although pointed out she might think differently if all of Andy's lyrics were “substantially similar” to Mariah’s version.

Mariah's "All I Want for Christmas is You" has reached 1 billion streams on Spotify and in 2021 became the first song to reach the Billboard Hot 100 Singles' top spot on three different runs.

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