In a video shared on November 1st, Mariah Carey was thawed from a block of ice in order to get ready for Christmas and for “All I Want For Christmas Is You” to dominate the music landscape once again. Freshly unfrozen Carey has something perhaps more pressing to deal with now, though: a lawsuit over the song.
As Rolling Stone reports, Andy Stone, a country musician who performs as Vince Vance, has refiled a $20 million copyright infringement lawsuit. The case was previously dismissed in federal court in New Orleans due to it being the wrong venue, but has now refiled in federal court in Los Angeles.
Stone claims he didn’t receive proper credit for Carey’s song, and that it infringes the copyright of his 1989 song that’s also called “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” Douglas M. Schmidt, Stone’s lawyer, told the publication, “If you look at both songs, you can see that about 50 percent of the words are the same, in almost the same order. I think it’s a pretty strong claim.”
Schmidt also said attempts to settle the case ended without resolution, hence when they’re going back to court.
Jay Ceravolo, Stone’s manager, said in a statement, “Now we are moving forward to a financial conclusion either through settlement or a trial. It is simply a case of copyright infringement.”