Mariah Carey sued for $20m over All I Want For Christmas Is You

It has been brought to court.

Mariah Carey is facing a $20 million lawsuit for alleged copyright infringement over her hit song All I Want for Christmas Is You. The singer and her co-writer Walter Afansieff have both been named in the lawsuit and it has been brought forward by songwriter Andy Stone. The song was originally released in 1994 on her Christmas album Merry Christmas and is now one of the most well known festive songs of all time. In the legal documents that were filed at the US District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana, Stone claims that he co-wrote the song back in 1989 and has never given permission for it to be used. The documents, which were obtained by PA news agency, ellege that Carey and those others who worked on the song "knowingly, willfully, and intentionally engaged in a campaign" to infringe copyright over the song. It added that the defendants had also allegedly committed "acts of unjust enrichment by the unauthorised appropriation of plaintiff's work and the goodwill associated therewith". Stone is now looking for damages of $20 million. The album was released by Columbia Records on 1 November 1994 and became the best-selling US Christmas album of all time, with more than 15 million copies sold worldwide.