- The Mail on Sunday published a court-ordered statement regarding Meghan Markle on December 26.
- The Mail on Sunday acknowledged that it infringed on Markle's copyright.
- Markle sued the tabloid's parent company for printing excerpts of a letter she wrote to her father.
The Mail on Sunday published a front-page statement acknowledging that the Duchess of Sussex won her copyright claim against the newspaper's parent company.
The statement came after Megan Markle, 40, filed a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited — the publisher of Mail Online — over articles that featured excerpts of a five-page letter she wrote to her father, Thomas Markle, in 2018 shortly after her wedding to Prince Harry. A judge ruled in May 2021 that Markle owned the copyright to the letter, instead of the crown.
The front-page statement said, "The Duchess of Sussex wins her legal case for copyright infringement against Associated Newspapers for articles published in The Mail on Sunday and posted on Mail Online – SEE PAGE 3."
On page three, the statement continued: "Following a hearing on 19-20 January, 2021, and a further hearing on 5 May, 2021, the Court has given judgment for the Duchess of Sussex on her claim for copyright infringement. The Court found that Associated Newspapers infringed her copyright by publishing extracts of her handwritten letter to her father in The Mail on Sunday and on Mail Online."
The statements were also published on The Daily Mail's website and concluded by noting that "financial remedies have been agreed."
Representatives for the Duchess of Sussex did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Royals reporter Omid Scobie shared photos of the statement to his Twitter account.
—Omid Scobie (@scobie) December 25, 2021
The legal proceedings began after Thomas Markle allowed Mail on Sunday to publish excerpts from the letter, in which Meghan Markle addressed a series of comments he made to the British media about her.
Markle later sued the newspaper over the misuse of private information, infringement of copyright, and a breach of the Data Protection Act of 2008. In February 2021, a judge ruled in Markle's favor.
Associated Newspapers Limited attempted to appeal the decision in November 2021. Still, Markle won the appeal and called the ruling a "victory." A spokesperson for Associated Newspapers Limited said the company was "disappointed" by the decision in a statement obtained by Insider.