Meghan Markle wins remainder of copyright claim over letter to her father Thomas Markle

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Meghan Markle has won the remainder of her copyright claim over the publication of a letter she wrote to her father, Thomas.

The Duchess of Sussex, 39, penned the letter shortly after her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018.

It was then published in the Mail on Sunday without her permission, sparking Meghan's legal action against their publisher, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL).

The majority of the claim was settled in February, reports the BBC. However, the court still had to determine who owned the copyright of the letter.

Associated Newspapers Limited had previously argued that Meghan’s former communications secretary Jason Knauf was a co-author of the letter, meaning copyright belonged to the Crown.

But, on Wednesday 5 May, the High Court heard that Mr Knauf has “emphatically” denied co-writing the note.

In the remote hearing, Mr Knauf’s 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.”

The court also heard from lawyers of the “Keeper of the Privy Purse, acting on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen”.

Lawyers claimed that had told Meghan’s solicitors they “did not consider the Crown to be the copyright owner”.

Meghan’s lawyer, Ian Mill, also told the court that the statements made from representatives of Mr Knauf and the Keeper of the Privy Purse “gives the lie” to the newspaper’s suggestion that Meghan considered using the letter “as part of a media strategy”.

Mr Mill added that Meghan had “shared a draft” of the letter with her husband Prince Harry, 36, and her former communications secretary “for support, as this was a deeply painful process that they had lived through with her”.

The Duchess’ legal representative asked Lord Justice Warby to grant summary judgement in relation to the remaining parts of Meghan’s copyright claim and argued that the newspaper group’s case of copyright ownership “has been shown to be completely baseless”.

Andrew Caldecott QC, representing ANL, said the written submissions that it was a “matter of regret” that Mr Knauf’s lawyers had not said he was not a co-author in Meghan’s letter before the summary judgement hearing in January.

After Mr Knauf's lawyers told ANL that he was not a co-author, the publisher “swiftly recognised the impact of the information in that letter upon part of its copyright defence… and indicated that it would not oppose summary judgment”, its lawyerAndrew Caldecott QC said.

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