On March 22, the Princess of Wales announced that she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy after cancer cells had been found more than a month after her abdominal surgery. That video pretty much ended a weeks-long, shambolic newscycle full of speculation about manipulated photos, weird photo-op set-ups and one truly bonkers Windsor Farm Store video. Just days before Kate allegedly “filmed” the cancer video, The Sun claimed that Kate and William had been seen at the Windsor Farm Store, shopping and walking around unaided. No one really believed the story at the time. Twenty-four hours later, The Sun and TMZ (both Murdoch-owned) published a video (and stills from the video) of “Kate and William” speed-walking out of the Windsor Farm Store. All hell broke loose.
First of all, there was a huge amount of online speculation in real time that the two people in the video were not Kate and William. Then Christopher Bouzy dropped in and basically showed that the “source” of the video lacked credibility and the people in the video were almost certainly not Kate and William. The Sun’s editor also made it sound like the video was somehow organized (or staged) with palace permission. This whole controversy was washed away, forgotten and buried with Kate’s cancer announcement. Until now. The Sun is suing ITV over the farm store video, claiming that the video is their intellectual property:
The publisher of the Sun newspaper has filed a High Court legal action against ITV and ITN over the use of video showing the Princess of Wales at a farm shop in Windsor. The footage, obtained by The Sun, showed Kate and the Prince of Wales in public after her surgery, amid her absence from public life.
A filing to the Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court was made by News Group Newspapers Limited against ITV and ITN on Monday. A spokeswoman for the broadcaster and news company said: “ITV and ITN will strongly resist this claim.”
It is understood by the PA news agency that the claim relates to the video, in which Kate is seen at Windsor Farm Shop, close to her home, Adelaide Cottage. The footage from March 18 shows the princess with her hair down, wearing a black jacket and leggings, chatting with William and carrying a large white bag.
I don’t know enough about intellectual property law to really speak to what’s going on here. Traditionally, a media outlet will buy the rights – perhaps even the exclusive rights – to photos and videos. It’s more than possible that the Murdoch-owned outlets (TMZ and The Sun) purchased that guy’s video under a very exclusive rights contract in which The Sun now has complete ownership of the video. It’s also possible that The Sun’s lawsuit against ITV just revealed something else entirely about who staged the video and who owned it all along.
#KateMiddleton seemed to be in good spirits while out and about with #PrinceWilliam Saturday. https://t.co/kLUsfvt3b2 (: TMZ/The Sun) pic.twitter.com/EqbtVojBcw
— TMZ (@TMZ) March 18, 2024
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, covers courtesy of the Mail and The Sun.