Meghan Marklejust won the latest round of her two-and-a-half-yearlegal battleagainst Associated Newspapers — publisher of theMail on SundayandMail Online— over the publication of a handwritten letter to her dad, Thomas Markle, 76.
A remote hearing at the High Court in London on Wednesday ruled that Meghan, 39, owns the sole copyright to the letter, which she sent to her dad in August 2018, just three months after her wedding toPrince Harry.
Lawyers for Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) had previously claimed that former Kensington Palace communications chief Jason Knauf owned part of the copyright as he had seen an early version of the letter and played a role in its drafting.
That assertion was dropped on Wednesday, however, after it was revealed that Knauf had “emphatically” denied co-writing the letter. Lawyers representing “the Keeper of the Privy Purse, acting on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen” also told Meghan’s lawyers they “did not consider the Crown to be the copyright owner.”
Meghan Markle.Samir Hussein/WireImage
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.Chris Jackson/Getty
“Mr. Knauf did not draft, and has never claimed to have drafted, any parts of the electronic draft or the letter,” Meghan’s lawyers stated in official court documents released Wednesday, adding that the Duchess of Sussex wrote the letter using the Notes application on her iPhone “around the first week of August 2018.”
It did, however, reveal that Meghan had shared the draft withPrince Harryand Jason Knauf “for support, as this was a deeply painful process that they had lived through with her and because Mr Knauf was responsible for keeping the senior members of the royal household apprised of any public-facing issues.”
While Knauf provided “general ideas” suggesting that the Duchess include a mention of her father’s ill health in the letter, the correspondence “was the Duchess’s letter alone,” the documents add.
Meghan first sued Associated Newspapers in September 2019 for publishing extracts of the"private and confidential" letterto her dad in five articles published both in print and online in February 2019.
Jason Knauf and Prince Harry.Tim Rooke/REX/Shutterstock
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Associated Newspapers lawyer Andrew Caldecott did not oppose Wednesday’s ruling. In a written submission he added that it was “a matter of regret” to the newspaper publisher that Knauf had not previously clarified his role in the drafting of the letter.
Caldecott added that once the publisher had become aware of Knauf’s declaration their legal team had “swiftly recognized the impact of the information” and indicated that it would not oppose a judgment.
source: people.com
