A songwriter who accused Mariah Carey of stealing ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ has dropped his lawsuit.
The ‘Hero’ hitmaker was sued over the summer by Vince Vance, who claimed her 1994 festive single had ripped off his 1989 song of the same name, but in a court filing on Tuesday (01.11.22), the artist’s legal team moved to voluntarily dismiss the case, Billboard reports.
However, the door will be left open for Vince to refile the lawsuit at a later date.
In his original lawsuit, Vince claimed he had recorded his own ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ in 1989 and it had received “extensive airplay” during the 1993 festive season, a year before Mariah released her megahit under the same title.
He branded the later track a “derivative” of his own and was seeking $20 million in damages from the 52-year-old singer, co-writer Walter Afanasieff and Sony Music.
Experts had previously insisted it would be tough for Vince to win his case as the songs had very few similarities, other than an identical name and a single lyric.
Paul Fakler, music litigator at Mayer Brown, said when the case was filed: “The only similarity he claims is in the title of the song, not the music or lyrics. Words and short phrases are not protectable under copyright law, and there are dozens of other songs with that same title.”
Lawyers for the singer have not commented on why they have dropped the case – which was still in the earliest procedural stages – or whether there are any plans to refile it in the future.