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Mariah Carey is celebrating a major courtroom victory this holiday season.
The "Queen of Christmas" has been awarded over $92,000 in sanctions after a judge ruled that the copyright lawsuit filed against her was completely frivolous.
Songwriters Andy Stone and Troy Powers, known for the group Vince Vance & The Valiants, had sued Carey for $20 million. They claimed her 1994 smash hit All I Want for Christmas Is You infringed on their 1989 country track of the same name. However, the case was dismissed, and the judge is now making them pay for wasting the court's time.
According to legal documents, the judge determined the plaintiffs' claims "lacked merit." The ruling stated that financial penalties were necessary to "deter people from filing baseless lawsuits" in the future. Consequently, the songwriters' legal team has been ordered to pay Carey exactly $92,303.20. When adding in fees owed to other defendants in the case, the total bill for the accusers comes to nearly $110,000.
Stone and Powers had argued that there were "substantial similarities" between the two songs, specifically in the melody and lyrics. They accused Carey of creating an "incredulous origin story" to claim the work as her own, alleging their version had extensive airplay in 1993, one year before Carey's release.
This was their second attempt to sue the star. They originally filed a similar lawsuit in 2022, dropped it, and then refiled in 2023. The legal win comes during a historic week for Carey. Her holiday anthem recently extended its record-breaking run, logging its 21st week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. This achievement helped Carey mark her 100th cumulative week atop the chart across her entire career, a feat no other artist has accomplished.
Additionally, the track is now in its 78th week on the Hot 100, surpassing Dua Lipa's Levitating as the longest-charting song ever by a female artist.
While her 1990 debut Vision of Love was her first chart-topper, All I Want for Christmas Is You remains her most enduring hit. Now, with the "baseless" lawsuit behind her, Carey can enjoy the festive season with a slightly heavier bank account.
