All Andy Stone wants is credit for the song “All I Want for Christmas is You.”
Well, that and at least $20 million, according to a lawsuit in which Stone claims Mariah Carey stole his song.
The complaint was filed Friday in federal court in New Orleans, according to NBC.
The suit targets Carey, co-writer Walter Afanasieff and Sony Corporation of America along with its subsidiary Sony Music Entertainment.
According to CBS, the song “has been streamed at least 1 billion times on Spotify and as of 2017 has earned $60 million in royalties.”
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Stone, performing as Vince Vance with the band Vince Vance & the Valiants, recorded a version of the song he helped write in 1989, according to the complaint.
Stone claims that in 1993, his version of the song received “extensive airplay” and “began making appearances on the Billboard Music Charts.”
Carey released her version the next year, and it has become a staple in Christmas music.
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The songs have the same title, but after that, they go separate ways in terms of melodies and lyrics.
But the lawsuit says Carey and the other defendants “never sought or obtained permission” to adapt the song, which Stone claims was “copyrightable subject matter,” NBC reported.
“Defendants, have knowingly, willfully and intentionally engaged in a campaign to infringe plaintiff’s copyright in the work ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ and to commit acts of unjust enrichment by the unauthorized appropriation of plaintiff’s work,” the complaint said.
The complaint said Stone claims his attorneys approached Carey’s legal squad in April 2021.
A follow-up letter was sent in December, the complaint claims.
The complaint says that efforts to reach a settlement were not successful, but does not say what kinds of negotiations — if any — took place.
The lawsuit did not say when Stone first became aware of Carey’s song.
“Even after communicating the concerns with defendants, plaintiff was unable to come to any agreement over usage of the ‘All I Want for Christmas is You,’” the complaint said.
The complaint said Stone “personally” sought to settle the issue but did not explain how.
