In a recent Forbes article, Heather Antoine examines the lawsuit targeting Mariah Carey and her hit song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” for alleged copyright infringement, unjust enrichment and misappropriation, and violations of the Lanham Act. The suit was filed by a musician named Andy Stone whose band, Vance & The Valiants, published a song with the same name first, and the suit also names Carey’s co-writer Walter Afanasieff and Sony Music Entertainment as defendants.
In the article, Heather details the continued popularity of Carey’s song since its 1994 release, classifying it as a “phenomenon,” and she also describes the song’s significant financial success, noting that it earned over $60 million in royalties between the years 1994 and 2017. She examines the similarities between the two songs and provides insight on how the title, lyrics, and musician composition are likely to affect the results of this suit.
This is Heather’s third Forbes article on the topic of copyright infringement cases involving successful musicians. She has previously written about copyright infringement lawsuits involving Dua Lipa and Childish Gambino.
Read Heather’s latest article, entitled “Mariah Carey Hit With $20 Million Lawsuit for ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ - Is Nothing Sacred?” on Forbes.
