Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas' targeted in new copyright lawsuit

A new lawsuit targeting Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" claims the hit released in 1994 violates an even older song's copyright.

In a complaint filed in Louisiana federal court Friday, Vince Vance, whose legal name is Andy Stone, is suing Carey, Sony Music Entertainment and co-writer of the Christmas hit, Walter Afanasieff for copyright infringement.

The lawsuit obtained by USA TODAY alleges that in 1989 Stone, a member of the pop country group Vince Vance and The Valiants co-wrote a song with the same title. Stone's "All I Want For Christmas" was released several years before Carey's hit, but has different lyrics and melodies.

The songs share a title and a theme of humbly asking for their significant other for the holiday. According to the United States Copyright Office, song titles alone are not protected by copyright law "because they contain an insufficient amount of authorship."

Stone alleges Carey's song has "damaged" his music career and is suing the defendants for at least $20 million.

Stone holds a copyright certificate for the song which was obtained in 1988, according to copyright records. According to the copyright library there are many other songs with the same title that also hold copyright certificates after the late '80s. But Vance says the defendants never asked permission for its use in the promotion and distribution of their 1994 soBillboard chart-topper.

"Defendants, have knowingly, willfully, and intentionally engaged in a campaign to infringe Plaintiff’s copyright in the work," the complaint says.

USA TODAY has reached out to Carey and Afanasieff for a statement.

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According to the complaint, Stone's attorneys approached Carey and her team about the infringement claim in April 2021 and sent a follow up letter on the matter in December.

"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.

Stone is seeking an award to "the profits, gains and advantages" that Carey and her team have made from the hit song.

Last December Carey's song broke Billboard chart history as it peaked to the No. 1 slot on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for the third year in a row, breaking a tie with Chubby Checker's 1960 dance hit "The Twist" which shot up to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960 and again in 1962.

Before the song shot up to the top of the charts for the first time in 2019, Carey told USA TODAY in November of that year she "would be thrilled" to make that achievement.

"I wanted it to feel like a classic, but I didn't know that it was going to actually become a classic. I say that humbly because Christmas music is something that's really special to me," Carey said at the time.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas' subject of copyright lawsuit