Photo by: Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx 2021 12/4/221 Mariah Carey makes history as she becomes ‘Diamond Certified’ for ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You.’ STAR MAX File Photo: 12/2/16 Mariah Carey at VH1 Divas Holiday: Unsilent Night. (NYC)
With less than two months before the holidays, pop superstar Mariah Carey is facing a lawsuit accusing her of being more like the Grinch than the “Queen of Christmas.”
Carey was hit with a copyright lawsuit Wednesday accusing her of copying a 1989 song called “All I Want for Christmas Is You” — the same title of her 1994 hit that was certified Diamond in 2021. The plaintiffs, Andy Stone and Troy Powers, are co-writers of the earlier song, and Stone performs under the name Vince Vance with the country music band Vince Vance and the Valiants.
Carey, the complaint says, copied the structure, melody, and feel of the song without permission.
“Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ copies plaintiffs’ compositional structure of an extended comparison between a loved one and trappings of seasonal luxury, and further includes several of plaintiffs’ lyrical phrases,” the complaint says. “Beyond the lyrical hook ‘[a]ll I want for Christmas is you,’ defendants directly copy and include the exact lyrics ‘I don’t need . . .’ presents ‘underneath the Christmas tree.’ Instead, like plaintiffs’ original work, Carey implores Santa to ‘bring me the one thing I really need,’ an unnamed ‘you,’ to make their ‘wish come true.””
In all, Stone and Powers allege, Carey’s “infringed copyrighted lyrics account for approximately 50%” of her song, and the “chord progression and melodic similarities push this percentage of infringement still higher.”
Carey, the complaint says, has benefitted greatly from her alleged copyright violation.
“‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ has become a ubiquitous part of popular culture, and Carey’s name has become synonymous with the season,” the complaint says. “Defendant Carey has fully embraced her coronation as the ‘Queen of Christmas.’ The success of this song, in particular, has led Carey to build what Billboard magazine described as ‘A growing holiday mini-empire.’”
The complaint notes that Carey’s attempt to trademark the phrase “Queen of Christmas” was rejected in November 2022.
According to the complaint, Stone and Powers’ song attained some success: in 1994, it appeared on Billboard’s Hot Country chart, and in 2002, it “crossed over” to Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay chart. Stone — as Vance — performed the song at the White House in the spring of 1994, according to the lawsuit, and in 2021, it was licensed by pop-country singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson for inclusion on a holiday album. But that success is modest compared to the reach of Carey’s song, and the plaintiffs say they’re entitled to some of that financial “windfall.”
“When we are talking about the success of the song, we are not just talking about streaming, and traditional purchases,” the complaint says. “There are a number of other ways the song has created a windfall for the infringing defendants – a windfall the original copyright holders do not get to partake in.”
In addition to Carey, the complaint names co-writer Walter Afanasieff, Sony Music, and Universal Music as defendants.
The complaint manages to get in a few digs aimed at Carey, including implying that before her Christmas hit song, her career had been flagging.
“Indeed, the glow of success from this one song has revitalized defendant Carey’s career, as she headlines concerts and events at all times of the year,” the complaint says. “‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ helped to propel Mariah Carey’s career and boost her revenue from performance requests.”
The plaintiffs also say that Carey has been accused of not being truthful about how the song was written. She and Afanasieff had publicly said that they wrote the song together in 15 minutes in 1994, according to the complaint. Years later, however, Carey said that she had written it as a child.
“Carey has, without licensing, palmed off these works with her incredulous origin story, as if those works were her own,” the complaint says. “Her hubris knowing no bounds, even her co-credited songwriter doesn’t believe the story she has spun. This is simply a case of actionable infringement.”
The complaint acknowledges that the song title does convey a rather typical feeling associated with the holidays and that it has been used by other artists — but that doesn’t make Carey’s alleged infringement any less egregious.
“While previous artists have used the phrase ‘all I want for Christmas is you’ within their copyrighted works, those do not make plaintiffs’ expression any less original,” the complaint says. “The phrase describes the human condition and the need for the company of another above all else at Christmastime.”
Stone had sued Carey for copyright infringement of the song in June of 2022 but withdrew that complaint in November of that year.
Read the complaint below.
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