A lawsuit claiming the hit Christmas song infringed the copyright of an earlier song with the same title has been dismissed without trial.
Mariah Carey 's All I Want For Christmas Is You has reached No.1 in the US the past six years in a row.US songwriters Vince Vance and Troy Powers claimed in their suit that Carey and co-writer Walter Afanasieff lifted significant elements from their 1989 country song of the same name.
Judge Mónica Ramírez Almadani ruled the plaintiffs had not met the burden for showing the songs are substantially similar and dismissed the case without trial.abc.net.au/news/judge-rules-mariah-carey-did-not-steal-all-i-want-for-christmas/105080190A US judge has ruled that Mariah Carey did not steal her perennial mega-hit, All I Want for Christmas Is You, from other songwriters. Judge Mónica Ramírez Almadani granted Carey's request for summary judgement on Thursday, giving her and co-writer and co-defendant Walter Afanasieff a victory without going to trial. In 2023, songwriters Andy Stone of Louisiana — who goes by the stage name Vince Vance — and Troy Powers of Tennessee filed the US$20 million lawsuit alleging that Carey's 1994 song, which has since become a holiday standard and annual streaming sensation, infringed the copyright of their 1989 country song with the same title.Their lawyer Gerard P. Fox said he was "disappointed" in an email to The Associated Press. Fox said it is his experience that judges at this level "nearly always now dismiss a music copyright case and that one must appeal to reverse and get the case to the jury." "My client will make a decision shortly on whether to appeal. We filed based on the opinions of two esteemed musicologists who teach at great colleges," he said.Photo shows Brunette female wearing pink prom dress and tiara, holding bouquet of purple and white roses, running eyeliner In pop music, the line between inspiration and rip-off is blurry. Olivia Rodrigo is the latest to get caught out by it. Stone and Powers' suit said their All I Want For Christmas Is You song contains a unique linguistic structure where a person, disillusioned with expensive gifts and seasonal comforts, wants to be with their loved one, and accordingly writes a letter to Santa Claus." They said there was an "overwhelming likelihood" Carey and Afanasieff had heard their song — which at one point reached No.31 on Billboard's Hot Country chart — and infringed their copyright by taking significant elements from it. After hearing from two experts for each side, Judge Ramírez Almadani agreed with those from the defence, who said the writers employed common Christmas cliches that existed prior to both songs, and that Carey's song used them differently.Judge Ramírez Almadani also ordered sanctions against the plaintiffs and their lawyers, saying their suit and subsequent filings were frivolous and that the plaintiffs' lawyers "made no reasonable effort to ensure that the factual contentions asserted have evidentiary support".Lawyers for the defence and publicists for Carey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.than it was in the 1990s. During the holiday season, it has reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 chart — which measures the most popular songs by airplay, sales and streaming — the past six years in a row.Queensland University of Technology music lecturer Dr Yanto Browning said the law made these types of cases challenging.Musicians Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke wereafter they claimed Williams' and Thicke's song Blurred Lines infringed on Gaye's 1977 track Got To Give It Up. Dr Browning said such lawsuits could be based on lyrical and melodic content, and also a more overarching style or "vibe"."I think it's part of the law that is really quite open to interpretation." A jury found Williams and Thicke's song Blurred Lines infringed on Marvin Gaye's 1977 song Got To Give It Up in 2015.Dr Browing said the situation was unlikely to get easier in the future, Dr Browning said, with the rise of generative artificial intelligence.Musicians have big concerns about AI, but it's up to us to shape its future. "Whatever happens next with artificial intelligence and copyright is really where all the attention is going to go,"Dr Browning expected individual cases would become increasingly insignificant, taking a back seat to copyright infringement claims that centre on the use of existing music to train AI companies' large language models. "Now you can go into AI generators and just say 'Give me a folk song in the mould of …' and then that's been trained on all of these other artists," he said.
All I Want For Christmas Is You Copyright Lawsuit Vince Vance Troy Powers Christmas Music Industry
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