Robbie Williams [ tickets ] lost a copyright battle on Monday (10/2) a British judge ruled that he had illegally copied some of the lyrics of his song "Jesus in a Camper Van" from Woody Guthrie [ tickets ]’s 1961 song "I Am the Way" and a 1973 parody of that song by Loudon Wainwright III [ tickets ].

Williams and songwriting partner Guy Chambers, as well as EMI Music Publishing Ltd and BMG Music Publishing Ltd, will now face another court case to determine how much should be paid to Ludlow Music, the owners of the copyright to "I Am the Way."

Contention over "Jesus in a Camper Van" from his second album "I’ve Been Expecting You" focused on the lyric "I suppose even the Son of God gets it hard sometimes/Especially when he goes around saying I am the way."

Guthrie’s original line was "Every good man gets a little hard luck sometimes." Wainwright III’s parody of the song expanded the lyric to "Every son of God gets a little hard luck sometimes/Especially when he goes round saying he is the way."

Initially, Ludlow Music had agreed to let Williams and Chambers copy the lyrics from Guthrie's song and Wainwright III's parody if they were given a half-share of the copyright. However, EMI Publishing Ltd declined, in turn offering them only 25%. Williams' also stated that the lyrics had been reproduced "by kind permission" of Ludlow Music.

Judge Nicholas Strauss QC upheld the New York music publishers’ complaint in a London high court in London and ruled that they were entitled to "substantial" damages.

Strauss said in his ruling, "In my view, the extent of the copying is substantial, although not by much. I think that this is of sufficient substance to amount to an infringement of copyright."