A US judge has dismissed a $20 million (€18.5m) copyright lawsuit against Mariah Carey over her holiday classic 'All I Want for Christmas Is You'.

Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani granted summary judgment in favour of Carey and her co-writer Walter Afanasieff, allowing the case to be resolved without going to trial.

Songwriter Andy Stone, known as Vince Vance, and co-writer Troy Powers filed the lawsuit in 2023, claiming Carey’s 1994 hit copied elements of a song they released in 1989 with the same title.

Stone alleged that Carey and co-writer Walter Afanasieff had access to their track, and that there was an "overwhelming likelihood" that they copied its “unique linguistic structure.”

However, the judge found the similarities too vague to amount to copyright infringement, concluding that both songs simply relied on typical and familiar “Christmas song clichés.”

The court also ruled that Stone could not claim ownership of the phrase “all I want for Christmas is you,” as it is too generic to be protected under copyright law.

Describing the case as “frivolous,” the judge ordered Stone and his legal team to cover Carey’s legal fees.

Neither Carey nor Stone have publicly commented on the ruling.