Mariah Carey's 'All I want for Christmas is you' copyright lawsuit dropped

Singer Mariah Carey is no longer being sued for copyright infringement over her hit song All I Want for Christmas is You, after country singer Andy Stone dropped his lawsuit on Monday.

He told the court he would dismiss the case - but legally he could refile it.

A must-have on any Christmas playlist, Ms Carey's mega-hit is one of the best known Christmas records of all time.

Mr Stone, who performs under the name Vince Vance with the band Vince Vance and the Valiants, previously filed the lawsuit in a New Orleans federal court - where he also filed to have the case dismissed.

He was claiming at least $20m (£16m) in damages, arguing that Ms Carey exploited his "popularity" and "style".

Despite sharing a title, the two songs are musically different, but Mr Stone claimed that Ms Carey did not ask for permission to use the song name and had earned "undeserved profits" from it.

It is not unusual for different songs to have the same name, and the United States Copyright Office lists 177 entries on its website under the title All I Want for Christmas is You.

Since appearing on the album Merry Christmas in 1994, the song has topped the charts in several countries and by 2017 had reportedly earned Ms Carey more than $60m (£48m) in royalties.

It has been streamed over one billion times on Spotify.

In a recent memoir, Ms Carey admitted to composing "most of the song on a cheap little Casio keyboard".