PAPER TO PRINT STATEMENT

THE Mail On Sunday must publish a front-page statement about the Duchess of Sussex’s victory in her copyright claim against the newspaper over the publication of a “personal and private” letter to her estranged father, the High Court has ruled.

Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) – the publisher of The Mail On Sunday and MailOnline – has also been ordered to print a notice on page three of the paper stating it “infringed her copyright” by publishing parts of the letter sent to Thomas Markle.

In a ruling yesterday, Lord Justice Warby also granted Meghan a declaration that ANL “misused her private information and infringed her copyright”.

The duchess, 39, sued ANL over a series of articles which reproduced parts of a “heartfelt” letter to Mr Markle, 76, in August 2018.

She claimed the five articles published in February 2019 involved a misuse of her private information, breached her copyright and breached the Data Protection Act.

Last month, Meghan was granted 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 this week, ANL’s lawyers applied for permission to appeal against that ruling on 10 grounds.

But Lord Justice Warby refused permission to appeal, saying it had “no real prospect” of success.

In his ruling yesterday, Lord Justice Warby said he would order ANL to publish a notice about Meghan’s victory as it would have “genuine utility”.