Robbie Williams has been told to hand over 25% of the earnings from one of his songs after the High Court in London ruled that Jesus in a Camper Vancontained "substantial" copying from Woody Guthrie's I Am The Way.
Jesus in a Camper Van was co-written by Williams with Guy Chambers for the album I've Been Expecting You. In October, the court ruled the song to be in breach of copyright of Guthrie's song and an adaptation by Loudon Wainwright III. However a settlement on how much Williams should pay was only arrived at today.
The copyright holders, New York-based Ludlow Music sought damages from Williams, Chambers, and the singer's record and publishing companies.
Ludlow's counsel, Mr Pushpinder Saini, told Mr Justice Pumphrey that Ludlow had been willing from the outset of the dispute to grant a licence on condition that it received 50% of the royalties from the Williams song.
But the defendants, who offered no more than 25%, went ahead and sanctioned release of the recording on the Chrysalis label without Ludlow's authority.
"Well before any commercial release of the album by Chrysalis, these defendants were fully aware that unless they agreed to Ludlow's licensing terms, they had no authority to permit the release," Mr Saini told the court.
This conduct required the court's "condemnation" in the form of a punitive damages award over and above the basic 50% royalty, Mr Saini argued.
However, Mr Justice Pumfrey ruled today that the 25 per cent offered by Williams label was sufficient but ordered that the track be removed from all future issues of I Am The Way.
PA