Mariah Carey Did Not Copy 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' From Earlier Hit: Judge

"All I Want For Christmas Is You" (1994), the perennial hit song by American singer Mariah Carey that has become a holiday earworm for the ages, was not stolen from other songwriters, a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled on March 19.

- Adeel Hassan

In addition to dismissing the music copyright case, Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani ordered the two songwriters who filed the lawsuit to pay at least part of the lawyers' fees for Carey and Walter Afanasieff, her co-writer and a co-defendant.

The lawsuit, which sought US$20 million (S$26 million) in damages, relied on music experts who claimed "similarities in isolation," the judge found, but who failed to put those similarities in the context of the entire song.

She said the plaintiffs had not met the burden of showing substantial similarities.

The plaintiffs — Andy Stone, who uses the stage name Vince Vance, and Troy Powers — wrote the song in 1988, court documents show.

Their song, also called "All I Want For Christmas Is You," was recorded by American country-pop band Vince Vance & The Valiants and released in 1989.

It became a hit, appearing on Billboard's Hot Country chart in 1994 and returning to the chart multiple times in the 1990s.