Singer Mariah Carey has been sued for copyright infringement because of her 1994 hit “All I Want for Christmas is You”, reports BBC . Composer Andy Stone is demanding $ 20 million in compensation.
The names of the singer and her collaborator Walter Afansieff are mentioned in the lawsuit filed by composer Andy Stone.
The song was released by Carey in 1994, was included on the album “Merry Christmas”, and became one of the most popular Christmas hits.
In legal documents filed in the Eastern District Court of Louisiana, Stone claims that he collaborated on a song of the same title in 1989 and never gave permission for it to be used.
Although they have the same title, the two songs are different from a musical point of view.
The documents, obtained by PA Media, state that Mariah Carey and her collaborators “were consciously, deliberately and intentionally involved in a copyright infringement campaign”. The documents add that the defendants also committed “actions of unjust enrichment through the unauthorized appropriation of the applicant’s work and the associated goodwill”, according to Agerpres.
Stone is seeking $ 20 million in compensation.
The album “Merry Christmas” was released by Columbia Records on November 1, 1994 and became the best-selling Christmas album in the United States of all time. To date, more than 15 million copies have been sold worldwide.
“All I Want for Christmas is You” is one of the most popular Christmas songs of all time. The hit reached the top of the charts in several countries and was broadcast a billion times on Spotify.
It’s not uncommon for different songs to have the same title. The U.S. Copyright Office has 177 listings on its “All I Want for Christmas is You” website.