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Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas’ Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Gets Dropped

The plaintiff was reportedly seeking a reward of $20 million.

It looks like Mariah Carey’s reign as the β€œQueen of Christmas” will continue as it’s recently been revealed that the $20 million lawsuit against the singer has been officially dropped.

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As previously reported by The Root, back in June, Carey was hit with a copyright infringement suit stemming from her iconic holiday hit, β€œAll I Want for Christmas Is You.” The suit was brought forth by songwriter Andy Stoneβ€”professionally known as Vince Vance from the New Orleans-based country pop group Vince Vance & the Valiantsβ€”for copyright infringement, misappropriation and more. He was seeking $20 million from Carey, co-writer Walter Afanasieff, Sony Corporation of America, and Sony Music Entertainment. Per the suit, Stone claims he co-wrote a song of the same back in 1989 that got β€œextensive airplay during the 1993 Christmas season and began making appearances on the Billboard Music Charts.”

However, on Wednesday, Stone’s attorneys β€œvoluntarily dismissed the case,” according to Variety, though Stone could still refile and pursue this case at a later date. Additionally, and as noted by Rolling Stone, the $20 million-dollar reward would more than likely not be granted then on the account of the fact that there are β€œcurrently 177 copyrighted songs with the title β€˜All I Want for Christmas Is You.’”

So yes, that means you can now blast Carey’s 1994 hit to heart’s content without any feelings of guilt. (To be honest, the song has been on repeat in my household ever since 12:01 on Nov. 1 and I had absolutely no intentions on easing up so that’s that on that on that front.) Happy Mariah Carey Season!

Straight From The Root

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