A US federal judge has dismissed a copyright lawsuit filed by Vince Vance, lead singer of the band Vince Vance & the Valiants, against Mariah Carey over her hit holiday song “All I Want for Christmas Is You”. Judge Mónica Ramírez Almadani rejected Vance’s allegations that Carey copied his 1988 Christmas tune, citing evidence from musicologists and court documents. Vance had claimed that Carey was exploiting his popularity and style, but the judge found no substantial similarities between the two songs.
The lawsuit, filed in 2022, alleged that Carey had copied Vance’s song, claiming it received extensive airplay during the 1993 holiday season – a year before Carey released her hit song. However, the judge ruled that Vance failed to prove substantial similarity under the extrinsic test and ordered him to repay Mariah Carey’s legal bills.
The decision comes after a musicologist testified that both songs shared common Christmas song clichés found in many other jingles. Vance had also claimed that Carey “palmed off” his original work, but the judge called his conduct “egregious” and caused unnecessary delay and increased costs of litigation. Mariah Carey’s hit song has been certified a modern Christmas classic, earning an estimated $8.5m in global revenue in 2022.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/mar/20/mariah-carey-all-i-want-for-christmas-is-you