The core of the lawsuit is that the Mail on Sunday violated copyright law when the published Meghan's letter to her father. The thing that has nagged at me is that the pursuit of the letter was triggered by the People Magazine article due to one or more of Meghan's friends revealing the existence of the letter.
When I read the People Magazine article (
link), my immediate,
immediate reaction was that Meghan wanted the letter to be made public and I was not surprised at all that within a matter of days portions of the letter were published. Although it should be noted that this week Meghan's legal team denied that Meghan knew about her friends being interviewed by People and that Meghan's letter to her father would be referenced.
What perplexes me in all this is that I think that Thomas Markle may have been exploited by the media and Meghan (and Harry) have legitimate gripes against the media in terms of their excesses when it comes to their reporting about the couple, however I don't see the publication of Meghan's letter to her father as representative of either situation. Yes the copyright case is valid in and of itself, but it seems like things are getting muddied up because of how the existence of the letter became known and also that the Sussexes' motive (IMO) is to use the copyright violation to hit back at the media for its overall treatment of them and Meghan in particular. That was evident because the announcement of the lawsuit was part of an anti-media screed issued by the Sussexes. In addition to that, a key aspect of the Mail on Sunday's defense is that the existence of the letter came about and that characteristics of letter was described in a high-profile article about Meghan, initiated by Meghan and her friends. I want to be critical of the scope creep but it seems like both sides are participating in the scope creep as part of their respective strategies.
Let’s say Meghan is telling the truth that she didn’t approve her friends to speak to the media and about the letter.
I can imagine the defense can argue that by giving even just one of those friends access to the letter she essentially gave that friend a non verbal approval to what is a private matter. Giving the friend the confidence to talk about her and the letter publicly.
Hack, for all we know she may be kind of right in her claim about People magazine: maybe she didn’t
outright ask or approved to her friend/s to talk to people magazine about her and the letter, she may have provided her approval without saying a flat out yes.. you get what I mean?
I think the term is “Probable deniability“? Or something to that affect.
The exact question her friend/s asked, or how they potentially presented the interview and eventually what and how she answered, may end up being very crucial.
If she did not flat out told them to not speak about her to the press- ever, if she gave them even the tiniest of leeway, the defense can arguably use that to claim she provided approval, even if she didn’t know about that specific People article but gave one in general.
I mean, i’m thinking logically: you know you have publicity issues with your dad.
You know he is viewed badly and is probably being taken advantage of.
You decide to write a very private letter to him.
Why would you share the content of said letter with your friend?
Personally if I was writing such a letter I would not share the content with my friends. No matter how much I feel I can trust them.
And outside of the lawsuit: honestly if I were Harry I would not feel comfortable being around that person/people ever again, and I would question my partner if they continued the friendship- especially after he/she cut ties with her own father for also speaking to the press (no matter how messy he may by)... because obviously they can and will blab when convenient, what will stop them from not speaking and revealing more private info in the future?
Just thinking out loud..