Publication Plans To Appeal Ruling That It Invaded Meghan Markle's Privacy

Meghan Markle Privacy Case: A British newspaper publisher says it plans to appeal against a judge’s ruling that the privacy of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex was invaded when parts of a letter she wrote to her estranged father were published.

Former actor Markle sued publisher Associated Newspapers for the invasion of privacy and copyright infringement over five articles published in February 2019. The articles in the Mail on Sunday and the MailOnline website published large portions of a letter she had written to her father, Thomas Markle.

High Court judge Mark Warby ruled in February 2021 that the publisher misused Markle’s private information and infringed her copyright. He stated that the duchess had a “reasonable expectation that the contents of the letter would remain private.” He added that the paper’s publication of large parts of the letter were “manifestly excessive and hence unlawful.”

Associated Newspapers’ lawyer Antony White sought permission to appeal. Meanwhile, the lawyers for Markle demanded that the publisher hand over the letter and destroy any electronic copies or notes it held. The lawyers also asked the judge to order the Mail on Sunday to remove the five articles from its website and run a statement on Markle’s legal victory on the front page.

Ian Mill, an attorney for Markle stated in a written submission that “The defendant has failed to deliver up copies it has of the letter such that the threat to infringe and further to misuse her private information remains real and, inexplicably, the defendant has still not removed the infringing articles from MailOnline.”