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05th Mar 2021

Mail On Sunday ordered to publish Meghan’s legal victory on front page

The Duchess of Sussex has won her copyright claim against the Mail On Sunday

Nadine Batchelor-Hunt

The Duchess of Sussex has won her copyright claim against the Mail On Sunday

The High Court has ordered the Mail On Sunday to print a front-page statement on Meghan Markle’s legal victory on her copyright claim against the paper.

Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), who own the paper, have also been instructed to print further details on the ruling inside the newspaper as well. 

The claim concerned the paper publicising a “heartfelt” letter she wrote to her estranged father in 2018. 

Meghan claimed that five of their articles in February 2019 misused her private information, violated her copyright, and breached the Data Protection Act. 

Lord Justice Warby said today that the Duchess had a “reasonable expectation of privacy”, and that the Mail On Sunday “misused her private information and infringed her copyright”.

The judge also said the publication of the letter was “manifestly excessive and hence unlawful”.

The ruling comes after the court granted Meghan an interim £450,000 downpayment towards her £1.5 million legal costs against the Mail On Sunday on Tuesday this week.

The timing of the ruling comes days before the hotly anticipated interview, Oprah with Meghan And Harry: A Primetime Special – where she is expected to talk about a variety of her experiences since joining the Royal Family, including her negative experiences with the British tabloid media. 

The interview will be shown on CBS this Sunday in the United States, and will be shown on ITV on Monday at 9pm in the UK.