Meghan suit nets 1 pound on privacy, secret copyright sum
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DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — The Duchess of Sussex will receive a nominal 1-pound ($1.35) payment for invasion of privacy plus undisclosed damages for copyright infringement, under an agreement that ends her long-running dispute with Britain’s Mail on Sunday over the tabloid’s publication of a letter she wrote to her father.
The terms were reported by the Guardian newspaper on Wednesday, 10 days after Associated Newspapers Ltd., publisher of the Mail on Sunday, decided to forego further appeals and published a statement acknowledging that the U.S.-born duchess, formerly known as Meghan Markle, had won her lawsuit.
The Mail on Sunday’s statement, which appeared Dec. 26, said “financial remedies have been agreed” but provided no details. The undisclosed damages for copyright infringement will be donated to charity. The tabloid will also shoulder legal fees.
The settlement marks the end of a lawsuit filed after the Mail on Sunday published a series of stories in 2019 based on a personal letter Meghan wrote to her estranged father after her marriage to Prince Harry.
“I think they just kind of cut their losses,’’ said Mark Stephens, a London attorney who wasn’t involved in the case, citing the seven-figure legal fees incurred by both sides. “So I think it probably was right of both parties to draw a line in the sand and … close this particular case.”
Meghan, a former actress, sued Associated Newspapers for misuse of private information and copyright infringement.
Meghan described her Court of Appeal win in December as “a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what’s right,” as she issued a call to “reshape a tabloid industry.”
Meghan and Harry have attracted intense media scrutiny ever since the earliest days of their relationship, which linked the second son of Britain’s Prince Charles with a U.S. television star.
In early 2020, the couple announced that they were quitting royal duties and moving to North America, citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media. They have since settled in California with their two young children.
