Singer Mariah Carey has emerged victorious in the lawsuit filed over her festive classic ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’.
Country singer Andy Stone, who performs under Vince Vance, filed the suit against Carey in a Los Angeles federal court in November 2023.
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He was seeking about $20 million in damages when he claimed that Maria Carey’s song infringed the copyright of his 1989 song of the same name and that the pop singer had exploited his “popularity” and “style”.
“If you look at both songs, you can see that about 50 percent of the words are the same, in almost the same order. I think it’s a pretty strong claim,” the plaintiff argued.
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However, the judge ruled that Stone’s lawyers had not “met their burden of showing” that the two songs were “substantially similar”.
The judge reportedly referred to expert testimony which indicated that rather than breaching copyright laws, the two songs simply shared “Christmas song cliches” that had been present in several earlier songs.
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In addition to asking the plaintiff to pay Carey’s legal bills, the judge, in his conclusion, said Stone and his lawyers should face sanctions for filing “frivolous” arguments, including “vague…and incomprehensible mixtures of factual assertions and conclusions, subjective opinions and other irrelevant evidence”.
In 2020, Maria Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You became a UK Number One for the first time ever, 26 years after it was first released.
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Later in August this year, Mariah Carey will play a huge show at the Royal Sandringham Estate in Norfolk alongside other guest artistes.
Early this year, Mariah Carey, and her boyfriend, Anderson Paak, caused a stir after they were spotted holding hands during a cozy dinner date.
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Sources said there is a “flirty chemistry” between the 55-year-old songstress and her 38-year-old partner. They were captured leaving a Mediterranean restaurant holding each other’s hand.
Observers indicated that they both appeared very affectionate, with Mariah resting her arm on Anderson’s chest throughout the evening.
Photos, which fueled speculations online, featured Mariah in a black bodycon dress and other accessories while Anderson stepped out in a long gray coat and a stylish hat.
