From Good Housekeeping
The Duchess of Sussex’s legal battle with the editor of Mail on Sunday has been going on for many months. But today a judge announced his decision on part of the case, ruling that Meghan won a summary trial when it comes to misuse of private information and copyright infringement. However, Mr. Justice Warby also determined that when it comes to the question of who owns the copyright, this could be tested at the trial, which means that the royal team could be asked to provide evidence about who contributed to the creation of the work.
“The applicant had a reasonable expectation that the content of the Charter would remain private. Correspondence articles interfered with this reasonable expectation, ”says the trial. But he goes on to say that when it comes to aspects of copyright, they can go to trial. The conclusion is:
“There will be a summary judgment for the claimant about the complaint about the misuse of private information and about the problems that I identified in the copyright complaint. A hearing or hearings will need to be fixed to determine the remaining issues in the copyright claim and to determine what resources should be granted. “
Meghan issued a passionate statement after the trial, saying she was “grateful to the courts for keeping Associated Newspapers and The Mail on Sunday to answer for their illegal and dehumanizing practices. “She went on to say,” These tactics (and those of her sister publications MailOnline and the Daily Mail) are not new; in fact, they have been happening for a long time, without consequences. For these stores, it’s a game. For me and so many others, it is real life, real relationships and a very real sadness. The damage they have done and continue to do is profound. “She also said that she expects the case to set” a legal precedent, that you cannot take someone’s privacy and exploit it in a privacy case, as the defendant has shamelessly done in the past two years. “
Meghan concluded: “I share this victory with each of you – because we all deserve justice and truth, and we all deserve better.”
The Duchess announced that she was filing a lawsuit against the editors of the Mail on Sunday in October 2019 after her actual trip to South Africa. The case suffered many upheavals and much personal information about Meghan’s relationship with her father, Thomas Markle, was placed in the public domain, including text messages sent before her wedding in May 2018. The Mail on Sunday published parts of his handwritten letter to him in February 2019, after his existence was revealed by his anonymous friend during an interview with People magazine.
In his privacy judgment, Mr. Justice Warby determined:
“The only sustainable justification for such interference was to correct some inaccuracies about the Charter contained in the Article Persons. In an objective review of the articles in the light of the surrounding circumstances, the inevitable conclusion is that, except to a very limited extent, the disclosures made were not a necessary or proportionate means of serving this purpose. Most of the time, they did not serve that purpose. Taken as a whole, the disclosures were manifestly excessive and, therefore, illegal. There is no prospect that a different judgment will be reached after a trial. Interference with the freedom of expression that these conclusions represent is a necessary and proportionate means of pursuing the legitimate objective of protecting the applicant’s privacy. “
On copyright, he pointed out that a judgment on who the copyright belongs to “may have consequences to the extent that the claimant can establish infringement of his copyright and the remedies that he can recover.” However, he added: “There is no doubt that the defendant’s conduct involved a copyright infringement in the Electronic Draft of which the plaintiff was the owner or, at worst, a co-owner.”
A spokesman for Associated Newspapers Ltd said: “We are very surprised by today’s summary judgment and disappointed that the chance to have all evidence heard and tested in open court at a full trial has been denied. We are carefully considering the content of the judgment and we will decide in due time whether to appeal. “
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