Daily Mail to Pay Meghan Markle 'Financial Remedies' Over Copyright Case

The owners of the British newspaper The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline have agreed to pay Meghan Markle "financial remedies" after the company lost a court case over a handwritten letter to her father.

Associated Newspapers, the publishers of the Mail on Sunday, agreed on a financial payment to the Duchess of Sussex after she won her legal case of copyright infringement over a handwritten letter she sent to her estranged father Thomas Markle.

On August 27, 2018, Meghan sent a five-page letter to her father and the gist of its content was shared in a February 9, 2019, article in the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline website.

The Duchess of Sussex's legal team argued at London's High Court of Justice that the publishing of the letter was an infringement of copyright.

While she won her case via a summary judgement earlier this year, Associated Newspapers appealed on the grounds it should have gone to trial.

But, the full judgement of the January 19-20 hearing said Meghan had "a reasonable expectation that the contents of the letter would remain private."

It added: "The Mail articles interfered with that reasonable expectation."

Judge Lord Justice Warby also compelled The Mail on Sunday and Mail Online to publish a statement about the result.

On Christmas Day, Associated Newspapers said in statements published on the front page of The Mail on Sunday and homepage of MailOnline the court had found it had infringed the Duchess of Sussex's copyright.

The 84-word article on Mail Online said the court had found the Associated Newspapers infringed Markle's copyright by publishing extracts of her handwritten letters to her father on both The Mail on Sunday and on the website Mail Online.

It added that "financial remedies have been agreed" and shared the full judgement of the January 19-20 hearing as well as the Court's summary.

The Guardian Media Editor Jim Waterson appeared to poke fun at Associated Newspapers' decision to publish the statement on Christmas Day when many people would be celebrating with their families.

He said: "If a court has ordered your newspaper to issue a front page statement acknowledging your legal defeat to Meghan Markle, why not shove it out on the quietest news day of the year? Merry Christmas to one and all."

Following her legal victory, the Duchess of Sussex said in a statement: "This is a victory not just for me, but for anyone who has ever felt scared to stand up for what's right.

"While this win is precedent-setting, what matters most is that we are now collectively brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel and profits from the lies and pain that they create. From day one, I have treated this lawsuit as an important measure of right versus wrong."

The Duchess of Sussex and her husband Prince Harry are divisive figures and left the U.K. for California following their exit from frontline Royal duties.

Harry and Meghan made damning claims about the British royals during an interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this year, which sparked a debate about the institution and racism.

Following the broadcasting of the interview, Buckingham Palace released a statement which said: "The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately."

Newsweek has contacted The Daily Mail for comment.