Mariah Carey hit with $20M lawsuit over ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’

nypost.com:

Queen of Christmas, Mariah Carey, isn’t having a very merry start to the summer. In documents acquired by The Post, Andy Stone, who co-wrote Vince Vance & The Valiants’ country song “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” is suing Carey for copyright infringement — claiming the diva never sought or obtained use of his title for her perennial monster holiday hit.

Stone is also coming after Carey’s co-writer on the song, Walter Afanasieff, in the civil suit, which was filed in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana.Stone released his 1989 twangy version — which musically and lyrically sounds nothing like Carey’s pop performance — eight years before Carey changed the holiday season forever in 1994.

In the suit, he claims his song got extensive airplay during the 1993 holiday season, a year before Carey released hers. The Scrooge is suing the “Obsessed” singer for $20 million in damages.“Plaintiff [Stone] personally requested that Defendants [Carey] cease and desist from further distribution of Plaintiff’s work,” the suit reads in part. “Despite Plaintiff’s request, Defendants continue to exploit Plaintiff’s work ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’, reaping tremendous financial awards and other pecuniary benefits to the detriment of Plaintiff.”According to the documents, Carey and Afanasieff “knowingly, willfully, and intentionally engaged in a campaign to infringe Plaintiff’s [Stone’] copyright in the work … to the commercial gain, personal profit and unjust enrichment of the defendants and the irreparable injury and financial loss” of Stone.Carey’s representative declined to comment when contacted by The Post.