Mariah Carey wins the cause on “All I want for Christmas is you”

After almost three years since he was sued for violation of the copyright for his best known song, the Christmas superclassical “All I Want for Christmas is you”, Mariah Carey was finally exonerated in the legal cause concerning the hit originally published in 1994.

The Country singer Andy Stone, known by the name of art Vince Vance, had filed a cause against the pop star at a federal court in Los Angeles claiming that the song of the singer violates the copyright of her 1989 song of the same name and that she had exploited her “popularity” and her “style”. “If you compare the two songs, it is noted that about 50% of the words are identical and in the same order. I believe it is a rather solid accusation,” said the accusation lawyer, Douglas M. Schmidt.

Now, judge Monica Ramirez Almatini has established that Stone’s lawyers have not “satisfied the burden of the test” to demonstrate that the two songs are “substantially similar”. Stone asked at least $ 20 million in damages. On the contrary, as reported by the BBC, Almadini cited a testimony of experts according to which the two songs do not violate copyright laws, but simply share “typical clichés of Christmas songs”, already present in different previous songs.

The judge also added that Stone and his legal team will have to face sanctions for having presented “frivolous” arguments, characterized by “vague and incomprehensible statements, a mixture of facts and conclusions, subjective opinions and other irrelevant evidence”. They were also ordered to pay the legal costs incurred by Mariah Carey for the case.