Meghan wins copyright claim over letter to father
The Duchess of Sussex has won her copyright claim against the publisher of the Mail On Sunday over the publication of a handwritten letter to her estranged father.
Meghan, 39, sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the Mail On Sunday and Mailonline, over a series of articles which reproduced parts of a handwritten letter sent to Thomas Markle, 76, in August 2018.
She claimed the five articles, published in print and online in February 2019, misused her private information, infringed her copyright and breached the Data Protection Act.
In February, the High Court granted Meghan summary judgment in relation to her privacy claim, meaning she won that part of the case without having to go to trial, as well as most of her copyright claim.
At a remote hearing yesterday, Lord Justice Warby granted summary judgment in relation to the remaining parts of the duchess' copyright claim, after lawyers acting on behalf of the Queen said it does not belong to the Crown.
ANL previously said it believed Jason Knauf - formerly communications secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - was a co-author of the letter, which it argued meant the letter belonged to the Crown.
But, yesterday, the High Court heard that Mr Knauf has "emphatically" denied being a co-author and that lawyers representing "the Keeper of the Privy Purse, acting on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen" told Meghan's solicitors
they "did not consider the Crown to be the copyright owner".
Ian Mill QC, for the duchess, said that the Keeper of the Privy Purse's lawyers had written to Meghan's solicitors "disclaiming any claim to copyright on behalf of the Crown".
In written submissions, Mr Mill also said that Mr Knauf 's lawyers confirmed he did not
write the letter to Mr Markle and "it has never been his belief that he was an author".
The court heard that his lawyers said: "Mr Knauf did not draft, and has never claimed to have drafted, any parts of the electronic draft or the letter and would never have asserted copyright over any of their content. In our client's view, it was the duchess's letter alone."
Mr Mill added: "This unequivocal statement of Mr Knauf 's position also gives the lie to the defendant's inferential case, in its defence to both the privacy and copyright claims, that the claimant considered using the letter 'as part of a media strategy'."
He said Meghan "shared a draft" of the letter with Harry and Mr Knauf "for support, as this was a deeply painful
process that they had lived through with her".
"Mr Knauf was responsible for keeping the senior members of the royal household apprised of any public-facing issues, the media spectacle surrounding Mr Markle being one such issue," Mr Mill added.
He told the court that Mr Knauf "suggested that a reference to Mr Markle's ill-health be included", which Meghan did, but that "Mr Knauf did not suggest any specific wording".
Mr Mill asked Lord Justice Warby to grant summary judgment to the remaining parts of Meghan's copyright claim, arguing that ANL'S case on the ownership of copyright in the letter "has been shown to be completely baseless".