Meghan Markle has asked US authorities for more time to get her lifestyle brand off the ground.
The Duchess of Sussex’s legal team has asked US authorities for an extension in their attempts to obtain a trademark for her American Riviera Orchard brand.
It first applied for the trademark for its jams and homemade products in the summer, but was rejected in August due to problems with the application.
Meghan was then given three months to address errors and challenges to the application.
He has now asked for another three months to complete it. If the deadline is not met, it will be necessary to start the application again.
Meghan first filed documents with the US Patent and Trademark Office earlier this year, but suffered an embarrassing blow when the forms were not filled out correctly.
Surprisingly, the application wasn’t even signed and she didn’t send enough money.
Meghan Markle has asked US authorities for more time to get her lifestyle brand off the ground
Many famous friends, including Kris Jenner, have tried the jam.
Another company, owner of the “Royal Riviera” brand, also challenged the application.
The official documents said: “The owner, Harry & David, is an American institution, founded in 1934, with annual sales of £1.7 billion and 3,300 employees.”
He added that the protest “was deemed relevant” due to the “likelihood of confusion” and has already been forwarded to the U.S. Patent Attorney’s Office examining attorney, Marco Wright.
Meghan’s team, led by prominent American lawyer Majorie Witter Norman, under the firm Mama Knows Best LLC, applied to the United States Patent and Trademark Office in March for legal protection to trade exclusively under the name American Riviera Orchard.
She has been told that she cannot have exclusive rights to American Riviera because it is a place name commonly used to describe the California coast where she and Harry live.
US government department experts spent weeks studying the documents and rejected the request for a number of reasons.
These also include: – requests to market products in 19 different classes, but only send enough cash to cover 17 trade groups; requests to sell items such as gardening equipment, household items, soap dispensers and bedding were too broad and need to be clarified.
On top of this, the original documents were not verified because they were not signed by Meghan or her team and Meghan’s office was asked to send another £533 to cover the shortfall.
The Sussexes, pictured in Colombia last month, have also reportedly “struggled” to find a chief executive for Meghan’s new homewares and lifestyle company, although sources close to the duchess have insisted she herself is happy to run the business.
Chrissy Teigen and her husband John Legend were among the celebrities who joined Meghan Markle’s select circle of ‘jamfluencers’ who were able to try out her new product earlier this year.
A source close to the Sussexes told DailyMail.com in August that some exchanges with the USPTO are “routine and expected when filing for trademarks” and that they believed Meghan would file a response with the office soon.
This is the second time its trademark applications have been rejected.
In August 2023 The Duchess abandoned an attempt to register her ‘Archewell’ podcast.after the USPTO discovered that a self-help blog with the same name had already filed a successful application.
The Sussexes have also reportedly “struggled” to find a chief executive for Meghan’s new homewares and lifestyle company, although sources close to the duchess have insisted she is happy to run the business herself. .
American Rivera Orchard launched earlier this year as a lifestyle brand that will sell products such as jams and cookbooks.
And you also have to deal with a constant revolving door with your staff.
In June, the duchess sent her friend Nacho Figueras a PR package containing some dog biscuits and a jar of raspberry jam from her upcoming brand.
In April, the mother of two sent several jars of strawberry jam, which were part of an initial batch of 50, to famous friends including Kris Jenner, Mindy Kaling and Chrissy Teigen.
The timing of Nacho’s posts promoting Meghan’s jam caused outrage among royal fans, and the Argentinian’s next social media post was inundated with comments declaring it “shameful” and “in bad taste.”
Nacho, who appeared to be in New York at the time, is believed to have posted the photographs showing the gifts at around 11pm in the city and around 4am in the UK, meaning British viewers saw the posts just hours before the King’s birthday parade.
Months later, the only sign of activity has been jars of jam and dog biscuits sent to the duchess’s friends and social media influencers.
Meghan has sent products such as jam and dog biscuits to some friends, but there are now plans to start a 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’s new American Riviera Orchard strawberry jam.
Now, the USPTO is questioning the way the letter ‘O’ for Orchard is depicted in the company’s intricate, swirling logo, planned to help boost Meghan and Harry’s fortunes following the end of their $20 Spotify deal. millions.
But plans are apparently afoot for Meghan’s ‘lifestyle brand’, which will be inspired by the couple’s enviable life in their £10million mansion on the California coast.
However, the Daily Mail revealed in June that the much-hyped jams won’t be the first to break the bank as a source of revenue for the brand. Rather, a source told the publication that the priority is the launch of a rosé wine.
Meanwhile, Meghan has reportedly wrapped filming on her new cooking and home show, which is being produced by Sony Pictures Television’s The Intellectual Property Corporation and is said to coincide with the launch of her lifestyle brand.
The Montecito project, which has yet to be given a title or air date, will “celebrate the pleasures of cooking, gardening, entertaining and friendship” and is part of Meghan and Harry’s $100 million Netflix deal.
In a conversation about the new project, a Hollywood source said. The daily beast: ‘Everything went well and it’s in the can.’
The project began filming days after Meghan sent exclusive jars of her brand’s homemade jam to her nearest and dearest.
A filming permit application obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com showed that filming took place at two separate locations.
In April, Meghan spent the day surrounded by flowers from Florabundance, a florist a 10-minute drive from Montecito in the coastal California town of Carpinteria.
The next day, production trucks lined the driveway of a $5 million property located on eight acres of avocado and lemon trees in a gated community in Montecito for filming.