Meghan Markle wins copyright claim over private letter to father
Meghan Markle has won the remaining copyright claim against a British publisher over the publication of a personal letter she had written to her father. The ruling came through just recently. The Duchess of Sussex had already won most of her claims in February, when the court granted her summary judgment or ruled in her favor without having to take the case to trial.
Markle had sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publishers of The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, for publishing five articles in 2018 that reproduced big chunks from her handwritten letter. After the court ruled in her favor over misuse of personal information and copyright infringement, ANL argued that Markle was not the sole owner of the copyright. The high court has refuted this claim.
The defendants had presented that the letter was co-written by Jason Knauf, the former communications secretary to the Sussexes. Hence, its copyright belonged to the Crown. Subsequently, Knauf denied being a co-author and the lawyers representing the Queen clarified their stance in the matter. They told Markle's legal practitioner that they "did not consider the Crown to be the copyright owner."
Quoting Knauf's statement, the former actress' lawyer said that this "gives the lie" to ANL's inferential case, which stated that Markle considered using the letter "as part of a media strategy." Taking the arguments into account, Judge Mark Warby granted summary judgment. To recall, Warby had termed the publication of the 39-year-old's private letter to her father Thomas Markle as "unlawful" earlier this year.
This is one among the many battles the Duchess had to carry out. Markle had narrated the impact that negative articles had on her in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March. A tabloid had reported a feud between Markle and Kate Middleton, which the former actress later refuted. The Sun had even hired a private investigator to dig up personal information on Markle.
