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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Joanna Taylor

Mail on Sunday must print front-page statement admitting Meghan won copyright battle

Photograph: PA

The Mail on Sunday must print a front-page statement acknowledging that Meghan Markle won a copyright battle against the paper over a “personal and private letter” she wrote to her estranged father, the High Court has ruled. 

Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), which publishes The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, has also been ordered to admit that it “infringed her copyright” in printing the handwritten letter to Thomas Markle on page three. 

The front-page statement will read: “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 MailOnline.

“There will be a trial of the remedies to which the duchess is entitled, at which the court will decide whether the duchess is the exclusive owner of copyright in all parts of the letter, or whether any other person owns a share.”

The statement will also appear on MailOnline for one week.

The court ruled on Friday that ANL misused the Duchess of Sussex’s private information and infringed her copyright.

Lord Justice Warby rejected ANL’s plea for appeal, saying it had “no real prospect of success”.

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