Last month, the U.K.’s court of appeal sided with Meghan Markle ‘s claims that Associated Newspapers violated her privacy and conducted copyright infringement by reprinting her letter; the court also ordered the newspaper to print an apology to Markle on the front page, which was published last week.
The Mail will pay Markle £1—or roughly $1.36—for damages relating to invasion of privacy.
Markle will also receive a sizable payment from Associated Newspapers representing the profits they earned by printing the letter Markle wrote to her estranged father, Thomas, according to a Meghan Markle spokesperson.
Markle plans to donate the funds from the copyright infringement claim to charity, her spokesperson said.
Associated Newspapers must also cover a portion of Markle’s legal fees, according to The Guardian.
The £1 invasion of privacy settlement harkens back to Taylor Swift’s $1 winning from a 2017 trial against a Colorado radio DJ who groped her. During the trial, Swift’s attorney said that the low number was “symbolic” and showed that “no means no, and it tells every woman that they will determine what is tolerable to their body.” After her trial, Swift said she donated to causes that provide defense for victims of sexual assault.
In 2019, the Mail On Sunday published a series of stories quoting a letter Markle sent to her dad, sourcing directly from a copy of the letter Thomas had provided to the paper. That year Markle sued Associated Newspapers for invasion of privacy, copyright infringement and misuse of private information. In February 2021, a London High Court ruled in favor of Meghan Markle.
Last year, Prince Harry was awarded damages from Associated Newspapers after he sued the Mail on Sunday for libel for incorrectly claiming he had “not been in touch” with the military after stepping down as a senior member of the royal family. The Duke of Sussex also sued the Sun, the News Of The World and The Daily Mirror in 2019 for allegedly hacking messages on his phone, a legal battle that is still ongoing.
Source : Forbes
