“You're the only thing I want for Christmas,” Mariah Carey's enduring hit, which became an age holiday earbud, was not stolen from other songwriters, ruled this week by a federal judge in Los Angeles.
In addition to dismissing the music copyright case, judge Monica Ramirez Armadani ordered the two songwriters who filed the lawsuit to pay her co-writer and co-defendant Walter Afanasiev a portion of the lawyer's fees.
The lawsuit seeking $20 million in damages relied on music experts who claimed “isolated similarities,” but failed to place those similarities in the context of the song as a whole. The judge said the plaintiffs did not meet their responsibility to show substantial similarities.
Andy Stone, who uses the stage names Vince Vance and Troy Powers, wrote the song in 1988, court documents show. Their song, also known as “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” was recorded by Vince Vance and The Valiants, and was released in 1989.
It became a hit, and appeared on Billboard's Hot Country Chart in 1994 and returned to the charts multiple times in the 1990s.
Carrie's song, with the same name, was released in late 1994 on her Christmas album “Merry Christmas.”
In the lawsuit, Stone and Powers' lawyers said the close timing of the previous song and the success of Carrie's release “points to the overwhelming possibility that Carrie and Afanasiev, who both Carrie musicians and songwriters knew the importance of charting on Billboards, have access to Vance's work.
According to the lawsuit, Vance's song includes a unique linguistic structure that he writes to Santa Claus, “disillusioned with expensive gifts and seasonal comforts, and wants to be with his loved ones.”
The plaintiff's lawyers also said that Carrie and Afanasiev should have sought licenses or other permits from Stone and Powers for their “unique and original” two-part sequence.
The lyrical phrase “You I want for Christmas” is at the end of every poem in Vance's entire song, and the phrase appears throughout Carrie's song, the lawsuit said. She also states that her songs used more than 50% of Vance's work, with lyrics and chords.
Lawyers for Carrie and Afanasiev said the music and lyrics of the two songs are completely different.
They said the lawsuit relies on snow, mistletoe, snow, mistletoe who “is under the snow, mistletoe, Christmas trees and want someone to love for Christmas.” They said “the human condition and the need for the company of other people's companies at Christmas” is not a theme that can be protected by copyright.
Judge Ramirez Armadani heard testimony from two professional musicologists on both sides, but she eventually agreed to the testimony of Carrie and Afanasiev.
One of those experts found no significant harmony similarities between the songs, as the chord progression and rhythm of harmony were “very different” in both works, the judge said in her ruling.
Experts also found that the two songs only share five words: mistletoe, Santa Claus/Santa, snow, stockings and Christmas.
Phrases that refer to the holiday season – “You're the only thing I want for Christmas” and “under the Christmas tree” – “One thing” and “come true” were all part of the holiday vocabulary long before either song was written, the judge said.
Lawyers on each side were not available immediately on Saturday.
Over the past 30 years, Carrie's “I Want You for Christmas” has spent 65 weeks on Billboard's Hot 100 and has become one of the longest chart singles in all genres.
Jack Begg contributed his research.
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