BAH, HUMBUG.

Once upon a time, the most common predicate to "all I want for Christmas" was "my two front teeth."  And yes, there are versions of the song that simulate the sound of speaking without those teeth, "tho I can with you Merry Chrithmath!"  No doubt the disability advocates will want to put coal in my stocking for even mentioning that.

Later, though, unrequited love took the place of those molars and incisors.  Lawsuits, predictably, followed.

Another year, another $20 million lawsuit from Andy Stone over Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You."

Stone, who performs as Vince Vance and the Valiants, filed a civil lawsuit against Carey, co-writer Walter Afanasieff, and Sony Music Entertainment in the Central District of California on Tuesday, alleging "copyright infringement and unjust enrichment" over a successful song — also titled "All I Want for Christmas Is You" — he co-wrote in Nashville and released in 1989.

A similar lawsuit was filed by Stone and co-writer Troy Powers (who is also a plaintiff on the current case) in Louisiana last June before it was dropped five months later.

Yes, that song came out before Mariah Carey's. Apart from the "all I want" part, are they really that similar? Judge for yourself.

Dear reader, when the composer even concedes that "all I want for Christmas" is public domain, is it even worth making a case over it?

In the new court documents obtained by PEOPLE, lawyers for Stone state that his "All I Want for Christmas Is You" received radio play in 1993 and became a hit on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart the following year, around the same time Carey's now-classic festive anthem was released.

The filing claims that Carey copied the "compositional structure" of Stone's 1989 song, even though the documents also acknowledge the phrase "all I want for Christmas is you" wasn't originated by Stone.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs claim Carey and her collaborators "undoubtedly had access" to Stone's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" at the time of writing her homonymous song "given its wide commercial and cultural success."

If that's not litigation enough for you, there's also a Liam Payne song, "All I Want for Christmas," but that one includes "Is you and me to fix this."  Never mind Parson Brown or taking the girls tonight, the hits are in the frustration.