Mariah Carey has won a copyright lawsuit against songwriters Andy Stone and Troy Powers over her hit holiday song “All I Want For Christmas Is You”. A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled that music experts could not prove enough objective similarity between the two songs, dismissing the pair’s claim of copyright infringement.
The lawsuit alleged that Stone and Powers wrote their version of the song in 1988 and released it in 1989, with Carey releasing her own version just ahead of the 1994 holiday season. However, Judge Monica Almadani agreed with the defense’s claims that Carey’s song uses common tropes associated with Christmas songs that existed prior to 1989.
Music experts who testified on behalf of Stone and Powers were deemed not credible by the court. The attorney representing the pair called the ruling “disappointing”, stating that most music copyright cases meet a similar outcome. However, they plan to appeal the decision and bring the case to the Circuit Court level.
The lawsuit was the second for Stone, who previously filed a claim in 2022 but dropped it after allegations focused on the “unique linguistic structure” of his song. The latest suit alleged that Carey and her co-writer Walter Afanasieff had access to Stone’s work and copied key elements of it.
Source: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2025/03/20/mariah-carey-copyright-lawsuit/82577825007