Mariah Carey has won another victory in American justice and will be compensated after being accused of plagiarism for her song “All I Want for Christmas is You”, from 1994. The information comes from the American portal TMZ.
In 2023, songwriters Andy Stone and Troy Powers, members of the band Vince Vance & The Valiants, filed a lawsuit in which they claimed the Christmas classic was a copy of a song of the same name by the duo, released in 1989. The suit sought $20 million and ended up being filed last March, when the court determined that the songwriters had not presented sufficient evidence. At the time, the duo’s conduct was heavily criticized for the “serious pattern of irregularities” exhibited.
Today, the court highlighted further ethical lapses by defense attorneys Gerard Fox and Douglas M. Schmidt and determined that Stone and Powers will have to pay $92 million to Carey. Representatives of the composers have until January 5 to justify why the case should not result in harsher sanctions than those already established, and failure to respond could also result in harsher consequences.
According to the songwriters’ lawsuit filed two years ago, the singer’s song featured several similarities between the lyrics, melodies and overall contexts of Carey’s music and the duo’s work. According to them, the composer’s version of “All I Want for Christmas is You” appeared at the top of the Billboard charts in 1993, when the singer made the work his own.
The following year, Carey’s song was released as part of her album “Merry Christmas” and cemented itself as a phenomenon in Christmas celebrations. The legal victory comes just as the artist celebrates 100 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, a feat that takes into account all of his songs that have topped the chart throughout his career. Among the 19 songs that achieved this feat are titles such as 1990’s “Vision of Love,” 1996’s “Always Be My Baby,” and 2005’s “We Belong Together.”
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