JAKARTA - The United States District Court (US) for the Central District of California stated that Mariah Carey was free from a copyright infringement lawsuit against her song entitled All I Want for Christmas Is You (1994).
Launching the BBC, Adam Stone alias Vince Vance who released a song with a similar title in 1989 accused Carey of exploiting her popularity and style. He also demanded compensation of 20 million US dollars (Rp. 329.5 billion).
In a decision issued Wednesday, March 19, Judge M Wayica Rammendorez Almadani quoted expert testimony as saying the two songs only had a common Christmas song clich on some previous hit songs. It was also stated that Stone and his lawyers had not fulfilled the evidentiary burden to show that (the song) Carey and Vance had similarities.
Judge Almandi also ruled that Stone and his lawyers should face sanctions for filing "unreasonable" arguments, which include "mixtures of statements and conclusions of unclear facts ... and not understandable, subjective opinions, and other irrelevant evidence". He ordered the plaintiff to pay back the legal bill that Carey issued in defending the case.
Meanwhile, this case started in 2022. Stone claims the hit song Carey copied from a song he recorded with Vince Vance and the Valiants. In court documents, he claims the song has gained widespread popularity during the 1993 holiday season a year before the song Carey was recorded and released.
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Stone rejected Carry's confession in his 2020 memoir, saying that most of the songs All I Want for Christmas Is You were composed with cheap little Casao keyboards while playing the film It's A happened Life to get inspiration before finishing it in the studio with his partner in writing the song, Walter Afanasieff.
"(Carey) ignores these works with stories of their unreasonable origins, as if those works are his own," Stone said in court documents. "His silence knows no boundaries, even the songwriter who is also the songwriter doesn't believe in the stories he has created."
The initial complaint was canceled in December 2022, but was re-submitted a month later. Stone hopes to enjoy the great success of the song, which generates around $8.5 million annually and has spent 140 weeks on the UK's top 100 songs.
Carey's lawyer had asked the court to cancel the case in August 2024, arguing that Stone failed to prove copyright infringement.
"The same thing that is claimed to be a mixture of irlindrative elements: Titles and opening phrases used by many previous Christmas songs, words, other common phrases, and Christmas metaphors such as 'Obviously Claus' and 'mmen'is'," wrote the diva's lawyer.
In its ruling, Judge Almadani supports two reports from music experts hired by the Carey team. In one report, New York University professor Lawrence Ferrara testified that there were "no significant melody similarities" between the two songs. He also said he had found at least 19 songs that preceded Stone's song, with the idea of similar lyrics.
Similar reports submitted by the defense are considered unacceptable especially after the author acknowledged in a deposition that the melody of the two songs could not be compared because of its different rhythms. On that basis, Judge Almadani decided to support the motion of rejection.
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