Meghan, Duchess of Sussex to receive confidential sum from UK newspaper for copyright infringement
By Niamh Kennedy, CNN
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex will receive a confidential sum from the Mail on Sunday for infringement of copyright as her lengthy legal battle against the British tabloid comes to an end, court documents show.
The duchess took two separate claims against the newspaper’s publisher: one of copyright infringement and another of misuse of private information.
According to a court order issued December 17 by the Court of Appeal seen by CNN Wednesday, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) — which publishes the Mail on Sunday and Mail Online — must pay the duchess a previously agreed upon confidential sum related to the claim of copyright infringement.
The court found ANL infringed Meghan’s copyright by publishing extracts of a handwritten letter she sent to her father in The Mail on Sunday newspaper and Mail Online website during hearings in January and May last year, the court order says.
The group is also set to pay the duchess £1 in nominal damages for misuse of private information, according to the court order.
On December 2, the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that ANL had misused Meghan’s private information through their publication of the letter, saying the Duchess had “had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of the letter.”
Following the judgment, ANL said in a statement that it was “very disappointed” and considering an appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court.
In a statement after the judgment, Meghan hailed it as a “a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what’s right.”
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