Judge ‘Inclined’ to Rule in Mariah Carey’s Favor in ‘All I Want for Christmas’ Copyright Lawsuit

More than two years since Mariah Carey was hit with legal action for allegedly stealing her perennial holiday hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You”, a California judge has said she feels “inclined” to grant Carey’s request for the motion to be dismissed.

The legal saga dates back to the summer of 2022, when Mississippi artist Vince Vance (real name Andy Stone) filed a copyright lawsuit, claiming that Carey’s seasonal blockbuster infringed upon his 1989 song of the same name. Vance sought $20m from the lawsuit but ultimately dropped the case that November.

One year later, in November 2023, the lawsuit was refiled with the same basic accusations, though with greater detail added, and the addition of co-plaintiff Troy Powers, who claims to have co-written the earlier song.

 “Carey has without licensing, palmed off these works with her incredulous origin story, as if those works were her own,” Vance’s lawyers wrote in the complaint. “Her hubris knowing no bounds, even her co-credited songwriter doesn’t believe the story she has spun. This is simply a case of actionable infringement.”

The new lawsuit went into further details about the similarities, noting “unique linguistic structure” and specific musical elements, and claiming it’s a “greater than 50% clone of Vance’s original work”.

This past August, Carey’s legal team requested the lawsuit be dropped, noting that Vance’s claims fail the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s “extrinsic test for substantial similarity in protectable expression” — essentially arguing that any similarities between the two songs are coincidental. 

Now, as Rolling Stone reports, U.S. District Court Judge Mónica Ramírez Almadani says she’s “inclined” to grant that request. Furthermore, Almadani has stated she is “seriously considering” granting a related motion filed by Carey’s team requesting sanctions against the plaintiffs for what is alleged to be a “frivolous” filing.

In his argument, Gerald P. Fox, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, noted it is “not required” they show the song is “identical” or “virtual plagiarism”, but rather that only “a certain arrangement of notes has to be unique, or the melody, or any aspect of the composition that’s copied or similar”.

Carey’s lawyer, Peter Anderson, argued that the similarities that have been identified by musicologists hired by the plaintiffs amount to phrases such as “Santa Claus” and “mistletoe” – lyrics which Carey’s team have claimed are public domain.

“These are random similarities. Five or so Christmas tropes that make these Christmas songs,” Anderson claimed. “Importantly, there are eight or nine other Christmas tropes in their work that don’t appear in ours. And eight or nine in ours that don’t appear in theirs.”

Judge Almadani has not yet issued a ruling on the case, and has not indicated when a ruling is expected.First released in October 1994 as the first single from Carey’s Merry Christmas album, “All I Want for Christmas is You” is one of the most popular holiday songs in history. For the past four years, it has re-charted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the holiday season.