Mail on Sunday must publish front page statement of Meghan copyright win

Meghan pictured during her and Prince Harry's royal tour of South Africa in 2019

The Mail on Sunday has been ordered to publish a front-page statement about the Duchess of Sussex winning her copyright claim against the newspaper.

Meghan sued the paper for a copyright breach over the publication of a letter to her father and won most of her claim.

A High Court judge ruled the MoS must print on its front page and page three that it infringed her copyright.

The MailOnline must also publish the statement "for a period of one week".

A spokesman for the Mail On Sunday said: "We will be applying to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal, including in relation to aspects of the judgment today."

Meghan, 39, brought the legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) - the publisher of both the MoS and MailOnline.

It was over a handwritten letter to her father, Thomas Markle, in August 2018, parts of which were later published in news articles.

Last month, she won her privacy claim and most of her copyright claim. The judge ruled the letter was "personal and private" and Meghan had a "reasonable expectation that the contents of the letter would remain private".

The publisher's lawyers applied for permission to appeal earlier this week but Lord Justice Warby refused.

'Modest' statement

In Friday's ruling the judge Lord Justice Warby said the MoS must print a single statement on the front page, referring readers to a further statement on page three.

"The defendant devoted a very considerable amount of space to the infringing articles, which it continued to publish for over two years," he said.

"It has devoted a very considerable number of further column inches, and many hundreds if not thousands of words, to coverage of earlier stages of this litigation and commentary upon them.

"The wording sought is modest by comparison and factual in nature."

The MailOnline must publish the statement for a week with a link to his full judgment.

The judge also granted Meghan a declaration that ANL "misused her private information and infringed her copyright".

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Although the judge found the publication of the letter infringed the duchess's copyright, there will still be a trial to decide whether Meghan is the exclusive owner of copyright in all parts of the letter, or whether any other person owns a share.

There will also be further hearings to determine whether the duchess is entitled to any profits or financial remedies relating to her claim.

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