Meghan Markle's court win must be Mail On Sunday front page, judge rules

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - OCTOBER 02: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit the Tembisa Township to learn about Youth Employment Services on October 02, 2019 in Tembisa, South Africa.  (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Meghan in South Africa in October 2019. She won her privacy claim against the Mail On Sunday. (Samir Hussein/WireImage) (Samir Hussein via Getty Images)

Meghan Markle will receive a front page statement about her court win on the Mail On Sunday after it published extracts of a private letter she wrote to her father, a judge has ruled.

The Mail On Sunday will have to run a statement on its front page about the duchess winning the copyright claim against it, a request made by the duchess in the last hearing in the High Court.

The MailOnline will also have to run a notice on its site for six months, running in at least font size 12.

Meghan sued the Mail On Sunday and the MailOnline after it printed extracts of a letter she wrote to her father, Thomas Markle Snr, soon after he missed her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.

He was not able to attend because he was undergoing hospital treatment.

Meghan sued for breach of privacy and copyright infringement, and called the win "comprehensive" when Lord Justice Warby agreed with her in a summary judgement.

However there may be more to come in the case, as the judge has agreed that more than one person might own the copyright, because the duchess got help from palace aides when she was drafting the letter.

Lord Justice Warby delivered a written ruling on Friday following the court hearing in High Court on Tuesday.

He also gave directions for the statement which should be on the website, which will read: "Following a hearing on 19-20 January 2021, the Court has given judgment for The Duchess of Sussex on her claims for misuse of private information and copyright infringement arising out of articles published in The Mail on Sunday and posted on Mail Online. The Court found that Associated Newspapers misused her private information and infringed her copyright by publishing extracts of her private handwritten letter to her father in The Mail on Sunday and on Mail Online’."

The notice on the front of the Mail On Sunday will read: "The Duchess of Sussex wins her legal case for breach of privacy and copyright against Associated Newspapers for articles published in The Mail on Sunday and posted on Mail Online – see page 5."

ANL had asked to appeal the ruling, but Lord Justice Warby denied their request, saying they would not receive a different response from the Court of Appeal.

ANL will be able to appeal the denial to the Court of Appeal judges if they wish.

Meghan will be awarded 90% of her legal costs, which are so far estimated to be at least £1.5m according to court documents filed ahead of the 2 March hearing.

ANL was ordered to pay £450,000 within two weeks.

Watch: Meghan Markle wins privacy claim against Mail On Sunday

Read more: Meghan Markle awarded £450,000 in legal costs from Mail On Sunday after 'comprehensive win'

The duchess had asked the judge to order that copies of the letter be returned to her, electronic copies be destroyed, and that any notes on it also be deleted or destroyed. Lord Justice Warby said he would not make that order.

Meghan asked for the court to order a notice to be written in the Mail On Sunday reading: "Following a hearing on 10-20 January 2021, the Court has given judgment for The Duchess of Sussex on her claim for copyright infringement. The Court found that Associated Newspapers infringed her copyright by publishing extracts of her handwritten letter to her father in The Mail on Sunday and in Mail Online."

She wanted the notice written no later than page four in the paper, as the article printing the letter was on page four, and she requested the notice be trailed on the front page. The notice would have been "a deterrent to future infringers".

Justice Warby said he would make “a limited order for publication and dissemination” of the result of the summary judgment application, but that it would be “considerably more limited than the order sought”.

Meghan has withdrawn her request for damages, and instead is requesting a "nominal" amount, to avoid spending more time and money debating what the award should be.

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