Meghan Markle’s latest trademark application was rejected last week, DailyMail.com can reveal, in a major new blow to her American homewares brand Riviera Orchard.
The Duchess of Sussex’s bid to trademark her small-batch jams and other household goods has landed her in another sticky situation with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), after previous bungles and failures to secure rights to her podcast brand , Archewell, finally. year.
On August 31 the Patent Office rejected her request, saying that businesses are not allowed to trademark geographic locations, including the nickname of the coast around the Sussexes’ home of Santa Barbara, California: ‘The American Riviera’.
The rejection also included numerous problems with her filing – including her apparent failure to sign the correct documents.
Meghan Markle’s bid to trademark her new lifestyle brand name was rejected last week, DailyMail.com can reveal
The Duchess of Sussex had tried to trademark ‘American Riviera Orchard’ – her new line of jams and other homewares – for international use ahead of a full-scale launch next year, but was rejected because the name is ‘geographically descriptive to primary’.
The USPTO praised Duchess for vaguely describing her products that could fall into different trademark categories.
The office said its brand’s proposed ‘cocktail napkins’ could be paper or textile – two different categories – and its ‘cooking utensils’ could be manual or electric.
American Rivera Orchard launched soft earlier this year as a lifestyle brand that will sell products such as jams and cookbooks
The rejection even included a screenshot of another Santa Barbara business product that already uses the term ‘American Riviera’.
The screenshot showed that the site sbcoastalcandles.com sells an ‘American Riviera’ candle for $34.95.
‘Registration is refused because the mark requested is primarily geographically descriptive,’ the Office said in its filing on Saturday.
Nicknames commonly used for geographical locations are generally treated as equivalent to the proper geographical name of the place identified.
‘American Riviera is a popular nickname for Santa Barbara, California.’
The decision could throw a wrench in the works for the launch of Markle’s embattled brand, which was scheduled to go live by the end of the year.
According to her trademark filings, Meghan, 43, plans to sell tableware, drinkware, decorators, kitchen linens and pantry items including jellies, jams, marmalade and spreads.
The Sussexes – pictured in Colombia last month – are also said to be “in” to find a CEO for Meghan’s new homewares and lifestyle venture although sources close to the Duchess insisted she was happy to run the business. himself.
Chrissy Teigen and her husband John Legend were among the A-listers who joined Meghan Markle’s select circle of ‘jamfluencers’ who received a sample of her new product earlier this year
Her trademark application was already embarrassingly blocked when the USPTO said she failed to pay $11,382 in international registration fees and other ‘irregularities’ that needed to be ‘corrected’.
DailyMail.com exclusively revealed those initial trading troubles last month.
The USPTO’s decision is not final, and Markle’s lawyers can still appeal and revise their application to try to get at least some of her products approved.
A source close to the Sussexes told DailyMail.com that there has been some back-and-forth with the USPTO ‘normally and expectantly when filing trademarks’ and believed Meghan would be filing a response with the office soon .
This is the second time her trademark applications have been terminated.
In August 2023 the Duchess abandoned a bid to trademark her ‘Archewell’ podcast, after the USPTO found a self-help blog by the same name had already successfully applied.
The Sussexes are also said to have been ‘trying’ to find a CEO for Meghan’s new homewares and lifestyle venture – although sources close to the Duchess insisted she was happy to run the business herself.
And she also has to deal with a constant revolving door with her staff.
An insider told Closer Magazine that Prince Harry and his wife were ‘the toughest taskmasters’ with high staff turnover.
‘Those numbers don’t add up and if almost 20 staff are quitting it tells its own story,’ the source told Closer. ‘It’s unprecedented, even for a start.
‘The harsh reality is that Harry and Meghan are the most difficult taskmasters, they are very demanding and difficult to work for and that gives a lot of support.’
Meghan sent products including jam and dog biscuits to some friends but plans are now underway to launch rosé wine
Meghan Markle’s close friend and former Suits co-star Abigail Spencer was one of the lucky 50 to receive a limited edition jar of the Duchess’ new American Riviera Orchard strawberry jam
The agency’s decision comes a year after the Duchess abandoned a bid to trademark her ‘Archewell’ podcast, after the USPTO found a self-help blog with the same name had already successfully applied.
Among the high-profile figures who quit Sussex employment were Meghan’s personal assistant Melissa Toubati in 2018 shortly after their wedding; Meghan’s female bodyguard in January 2019; senior communications secretary Jason Knauf in March 2019; and Queen Elizabeth’s former aide and Meghan’s private secretary, Samantha Cohen in October 2019.
Knauf was later revealed to be the source of a bullying complaint against Markle, prompting a Palace investigation.
Details of the probe’s conclusion have not been disclosed, and the Sussexes have denied all claims of bullying.
The couple’s PR chief Sarah Latham quit when Harry and Meghan decided to leave the UK in 2020. The couple’s 14 other palace staff were also terminated at the time.
And American PR expert Christine Weil Schirmer joined the Sussexes in 2020 as head of communications but quietly left late last year.
Last month their chief of staff, PR guru Josh Kettler, resigned after just three months in the job, becoming the latest member of staff to leave the Sussexes.
The decision was reported to be a ‘mutual’ agreement at the end of Kettler’s trial period.
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