Meghan Markle’s application to have the name of new lifestyle brand American Riviera trademarked has been overturned. (PHOTO: Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Meghan Markle’s application to get her American Riviera Orchard lifestyle brand trademarked has been overturned – for now.
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has rejected her application, saying businesses aren’t allowed to use real geographical locations.
The American Riviera is a common nickname for an area of the Santa Barbara coastline, close to where the Sussexes live in Montecito.
‘Registration is refused because the applied-for mark is primarily geographically descriptive’
– USPTO
The USPTO said the name could confuse consumers as they would “be likely to believe the goods or services originate in the geographic place identified in the mark”.
Their decision is however not final, and the duchess and her legal team can appeal.
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Meghan filed the trademark in February, before going public with her new company a month later.
The news is a setback for the mother-of-two as she was planning to launch it internationally next year to coincide with a Netflix series. But if she’s worried, she’s not showing it.
Actor Marco Leone, one of the guests, snapped this image of Meghan being welcomed on stage next to her longtime pal Oprah Winfrey. (PHOTO: Instagram/marco_leone_la)
Meghan with Prince Harry at the ESPY Awards in Los Angeles in July. (PHOTO: Gallo Images/Getty Images)
She was a guest speaker at a recent Oprah Winfrey book club session in Summerland, California, close to her Montecito home.
Her appearance fell on the second anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth – 8 September.
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In her speech, Meghan, who published her first children’s book called The Bench in 2021, revealed she was grateful for the “chapter of joy” she’s currently experiencing with husband Prince Harry and their two children, Archie (5) and Lilibet (3).
The prince’s controversial memoir Spare was visible among the books on display.
While it’s unclear what Meghan said in her speech, one of the night’s guests Laura Lynne Jackson, an American author, teacher and psychic, said Meghan was one of the evening’s “light-filled speakers”.
SOURCES: DAILYMAIL.CO.UK, WWD.COM, INSTAGRAM