Fresh blow to Meghan Markle as lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard suffers setback ahead of product launch
MEGHAN Markle has suffered a blow in a bid to trademark her new homewares empire – after trying to claim ownership of the entire American Riviera.
In a setback officials pointed out that the wording of her brand is a common nickname for Santa Barbara in California.
Further hitches include Meg and her team filling in the official forms incorrectly, and failing to send enough cash.
And their application wasn’t even signed.
Her team, led by top US attorney Marjorie Witter Norman under Meghan’s fledgling Mama Knows Best LLC firm, applied to the Patent and Trademark Office in the States for legal protection to exclusively trade using the name ‘American Riviera Orchard’.
But the application, filed in March, has been rejected and now she has three months to amend the request – or it will be removed from the register.
She has been told she can’t have exclusive rights to ‘American Riviera’ because it is a commonly used place name to describe the California coast.
In an awkward response, officials said: “Applicant must disclaim the wording ‘American Riviera’ because it is primarily geographically descriptive of applicant’s goods and services.”
Meghan was sent online articles showing that ‘American Riviera’ is a common nickname for Santa Barbara, California, and the city is known as a “geographic place or location”.
They added: “Furthermore the purchasing public would be likely to believe that the goods or services originate in the geographic place identified in the mark because the attached evidence shows that the applicant’s founder, i.e., Meghan Markle, resides in the geographic place identified in the mark.
“Applicant may respond to this issue by submitting a disclaimer in the following format: No claim is made to the exclusive right to use ‘American Riviera’, apart from the mark as shown.”
Experts at the American government department spent weeks poring over the papers, and they’ve ruled out the application on a raft of grounds.
These include, ‘applying to market goods in 19 different classes but only sending enough cash to cover 17 trading groups’.
Her office now needs to send another £533 to cover the shortfall.
Correspondence from the US trade arm, seen by The Sun, states: “The following wording in the identification of goods is indefinite and must be amended to further specify they goods: Garden tool gift set, comprised of hand tools for gardening International….Stationery sets; Embossers for paper stationery; Blank journals …. Kits comprised of edible oils, fats, preserves, spreads, and butters; Kits comprised of ingredients for making baked goods.”
Other goods deemed ‘too broad’ are: “cocktail napkins, pans, cooking utensils, namely, strainers, spoons, forks, spatulas, tongs, spreaders, whisks, soap dispensers.”
The document also points out errors with applications for “gift wrap of fabric or textile” and “meditation blankets; yoga blankets”.
The August 31 reply to Meghan’s team added: “The application was unsigned because the applicant did not provide a signature. Thus, the application is not properly verified.”
Last night, UK intellectual property lawyer Jonty Warner – who runs his own legal practice in Harrogate, North Yorks – explained: “An application was filed for the trade mark ‘American Riviera Orchard’.
“The words ‘American Riviera’ have been found by the US Trade Mark Registry to be descriptive of the Santa Barbara region of California, as they are commonly used as a nickname for this part of the USA.
“As such, these words need to be available for all businesses to use freely.
“The US Trade Mark Registry has therefore rejected the application in relation to certain of the goods covered by it, and in relation to the other goods and services, has required the applicant company to add a disclaimer to the effect that the company does not have the exclusive right to use the words ‘American Riviera’.
“The applicant company does now have the opportunity to file arguments or evidence to dispute the Registry’s findings should it choose to do so.
“There have been other administrative points flagged by the Registry, including the fact that the application form was not properly signed.”
The Duchess of Sussex’s domestic dream has been put on hold for now after she sought to trademark the name of her service for international use ahead of a full-scale launch next year.
In July a number of early ‘irregularities’ had been identified which needed to be ‘corrected’. They included incorrect classification of picnic baskets and recipe books.
Meghan signalled her intention to move into the lifestyle arena by setting up an Instagram page earlier this year.
Her new brand featured a gold logo, a faux heraldic ‘ARO’, and the word ‘Montecito’, where she and Prince Harry moved after stepping down as working royals and leaving the UK.
A video was also posted showing a woman’s hands arranging white and pink flowers. It then faded to reveal Meghan in a kitchen, whisking something in a bowl.
US reports said the new brand would focus on ‘things that are close to her heart’ and be an extension of her now axed lifestyle blog, The Tig.
Meghan, 43, has already sent products including jam and dog biscuits to friends, with further social media interactions expected in the coming weeks.
Sources said the plan was to sell Meghan as a ‘beacon of inspiration, aspiration and attainability’.
Her style will be sold as ‘affordably elegant’, and focused on her status as both a ‘family-oriented’ and ‘regal’ figure, it was said.
Meghan’s lifestyle brand has grabbed the attention of Netflix, which signed a deal with the Sussexes in 2020.
Their first documentary Harry & Meghan, which came out in December 2022, was a global success.
Next came the documentary Heart of Invictus about Harry’s Invictus Games event in August 2023.
But by this point sources were calling the ‘$100million deal’ with Netflix a ‘dead duck’ because of the lack of output and apparent lack of ideas.
But by May next year, after all the existing errors have been corrected, it’s hoped Meghan will be ‘all systems go’ with the brand and the cookery show she has filmed to accompany it.
She has spoken about her love of food, launching a charity cookbook with the Hubb Community Kitchen in 2018 to help families affected by the Grenfell Tower fire. In a foreword, she wrote: “I immediately felt connected to this community kitchen; it is a place for women to laugh, grieve, cry and cook together.”
It comes as The Sun told yesterday how Prince Harry is moaning to pals that he feels like The Spare again in exile in the US – and might want to come home.
The Duke, 39, who wrote his memoir Spare about growing up in the shadow of heir to the throne brother William, is increasingly dissatisfied with life in California.
And in shock claims, he is said to be seeking guidance on a return to Britain and the Royal Family – while Meghan’s focuses on her US-based lifestyle brand.
A source told The Sun: “Harry is feeling more and more isolated in California, which is why he has been reconnecting with old friends back home.”
The Sun reached out to the Sussexes for comment.
List of products Meghan must clarify
Jam
Garden tool gift sets
Stationery sets
Embossers for paper stationery
Blank journals
Kits comprised of edible oils, fats, preserves, spreads, and butters
Kits comprised of ingredients for making baked goods
Cocktail napkins
Pans
Cooking utensils, namely, strainers, spoons, forks, spatulas, tongs, spreaders, whisks
Gift wrap
Soap dispensers
Meditation blankets
Yoga blankets