MEGHAN Markle and her team keep making the same “schoolboy error” – she's run out of ammo, an expert claims.
The Duchess of Sussex is over the alleged “striking similarities” between the royal's proposed kids TV show and an author's book series.
Meghan, 43, was listed as an executive producer, alongside Sir ‘s husband David Furnish, on animated series Pearl – announced in July 2021.
However, it was eventually axed less than a year later and Meghan quickly binned any mention of it from her production company Archewell's website.
Writer and illustrator Mel Elliott, from Hastings, claims she sent a legal letter to both the non-profit company and streaming service alleging possible infringement of copyright in relation to her own character Pearl Power.
She spoke up about the story today, claiming she was “disappointed and confused” – and never heard anything back after multiple correspondence sent.
Royal author Phil Dampier told Flying Eze: “It's yet another example of how the people around her (Meghan) don't seem to have done their research before she comes out with projects.
“And there's nothing worse than being accused of plagiarism or of copying other people's work.”
He added “these are just schoolboy errors” and show proper “due diligence” is not being done.
‘Too striking to be mere coincidence'
Ms Elliott's letter, sent soon after the announcement of the series, said the two works' similarities “appear to be too many and too striking to be mere coincidence”.
It added “there is a risk” that the project “may infringe intellectual property rights”.
When she got no response, the 51-year-old also sent two personal letters to Archewell in October 2021 and February 2022 asking for updates.
By the time Pearl was announced, Ms Elliott had already published three Pearl Power , starting in 2014.
It comes after of “copying” her With Love show with her own Netflix cookery programme With Love Meghan – released last month.
And in February, the mayoress of Porres in Majorca complained the logo for the Duchess' lifestyle brand, As Ever,
Flying Eze previously compiled a list of seven times, in fact, that Meghan has “.
Mr Dampier went on to say “it's not a good look” for Meghan, who continues to generate “negative headlines all around the world when she's trying to make progress… and increase her pulling power… and obviously make money”.
However, he said Meghan is certainly not blameless in many of the mishaps regarding potential plagiarism.
“I'm not saying that it's not her fault and [entirely] blaming the people around her,” he explained.
“Certainly the ideas and the direction of travel very much come from Meghan… I'm just saying that the people who are around her should do better research on copyright issues.”
Mr Dampier said he's not sure why Ms Elliott decided to speak out now, three years after the row, adding: “To be fair to Meghan, the project was dropped… it never came to fruition.”
Mr Dampier said “copying ideas” isn't uncommon in the creative and business industries, adding: “People in all sorts of walks of life take ideas from other areas.
“But the more difficult part is coming up with original things yourself. But you know, if you overdo it, it just makes you look like a copycat.”
He added Meghan's business model seems to currently see her “throwing out quite a few darts” and seeing which sticks.
He said there was always the risk she and Prince Harry would run out of steam after stepping down as working royals in 2020.
He said: “I always said that the difficult part would come once they'd run out of ammo, exhausted all of the criticisms that they had of the Royal Family.
“Then would come the hard part, actually finding a role for themselves for the next 10, 20, 30 years.
“And I think that's very much coming home to roost now, and you can see that that they are flailing around trying to find projects that will work.”
He said the Pearl row is something of a “storm in a tea cup” but “it's just yet another thing to add to the list, just gives this overall impression that she's struggling to find a new life in terms of her work escapades”.
‘Ripped off'
Ms Elliott told the Mail On Sunday: “Meghan is a feminist who sticks up for other women, so I was disappointed and confused to see how similar Netflix's proposed show ‘Pearl' was to my own Pearl Power who had been created seven years earlier.
“Of course, I can't know if anyone on her team had seen it and been inspired by it, but the similarities were too great for me to ignore.
“The world of arts and media are very competitive and I'm afraid it's quite common for powerful to people to rip off the work of less well-known creatives – although I'm not saying that's what happened here.”
She added that what “saddened” her the most was, having brought the possible issue to the attention of Netflix and Archewell, “my objection was never acknowledged”.
The third entry into the Pearl Power series, released in 2016, became a major success and was translated into multiple languages.
Flying Eze has approached Meghan's reps and Netflix for comment.
