Meghan Markle has asked the American authorities for more time to get her lifestyle brand off the ground.
The Duchess of Sussex’s legal team has asked US authorities for a delay in its efforts to secure a trademark for her American Riviera Orchard brand.
She first applied for the trademark for her jams and homemade products in the summer, but it was rejected in August due to filing issues.
Meghan was then given three months to address errors and challenges in the application.
She has now asked for another three months to complete this. If the deadline is missed, the application must be restarted.
Meghan first filed documents with the US Patent and Trademark Office earlier this year, but was dealt a painful blow when the forms were not filled out correctly.
Remarkably, the application wasn’t even signed and she didn’t send enough money.
Meghan Markle has asked the American authorities for more time to get her lifestyle brand off the ground
Many famous friends, including Kris Jenner, have tasted the jam
Another company, owner of the trademark ‘Royal Riviera’, has also challenged the application.
Official papers said: ‘The owner, Harry & David, is an American institution, founded in 1934, with an annual turnover of £1.7 billion and 3,300 employees.’
It added that the protest was “deemed relevant” due to “likelihood of confusion” and had already been referred to U.S. Patent Attorney’s Office investigating counsel Marco Wright.
Meghan’s team led by top US lawyer Majorie Witter Norman, led by the firm Mama Knows Best LLC, filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office in March for legal protection to trade exclusively under the name American Riviera Orchard.
She has been told she cannot have exclusive rights to the American Riviera because it is a common place name to describe the California coast where she and Harry live.
Experts from the US department spent weeks going through the paperwork and rejected the application on various grounds.
These also include: – requesting market goods in 19 different classes, but only sending enough cash to serve 17 trade groups; applications for the sale of items such as garden tools, household items, soap dispensers and linen were too broad and need to be clarified.
In addition, the original papers had not been verified as they had not been signed by Meghan or her team, and Meghan’s office was told to send a further £533 to cover the shortfall.
The Sussexes – pictured in Colombia last month – have also reportedly ‘struggled’ to find a CEO for Meghan’s new homewares and lifestyle venture, although sources close to the Duchess have insisted they enjoys running the company himself.
Chrissy Teigen and her husband John Legend were among the A-listers who joined Meghan Markle’s select circle of ‘jamfluencers’ who got to sample her new product earlier this year
A source close to the Sussexes told DailyMail.com in August that some conversations with USPTO are “routine and expected in trademark filings” and that they believed Meghan would file a response with the office soon.
This is the second time her trademark applications have been rejected.
In August 2023 the Duchess abandoned an attempt to trademark her podcast ‘Archewell’after the USPTO discovered that a self-help blog of the same name had already filed a successful application.
The Sussexes have also reportedly ‘struggled’ to find a CEO for Meghan’s new homewares and lifestyle venture, although sources close to the Duchess insist she is enjoying running the business herself.
The American Rivera Orchard was launched earlier this year as a lifestyle brand that will sell products such as jam and cookbooks
And she also constantly has to deal with a revolving door among her staff.
In June, the duchess sent friend Nacho Figueras a PR package that included some dog biscuits and a jar of raspberry jam from her emerging brand.
In April, the mother-of-two sent a number of strawberry jam jars – 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 sparked outrage among royal fans, with the Argentinian’s subsequent social media post being flooded with comments calling it “embarrassing” and “tasteless.”
It is thought that Nacho, who appeared to be in New York at the time, posted the photos with the gifts around 11pm in the city, and around 4am in the UK, meaning British viewers saw the posts just hours before saw the king’s birthday parade.
Months later, the only sign of activity are the jars of jam and dog biscuits sent to the Duchess’s friends and social media influencers.
Meghan has sent products including jam and dog biscuits to a number of friends, but there are now plans to start with 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 how Orchard’s letter ‘O’ will be depicted on the company’s intricate and swirling logo, which is intended to boost Meghan and Harry’s fortunes following the end of their Spotify deal from $20 million.
But apparently plans are well underway for Meghan’s ‘lifestyle brand’, which will be inspired by the couple’s enviable life in their £10million mansion on the Californian coast.
However, the Daily Mail revealed in June that the much-discussed jams will not be the first to fall into the trap of being a money spinner for the brand. Rather, a source told the publication that the priority is instead launching a rosé wine.
Meanwhile, Meghan has reportedly completed filming 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 joys of cooking, gardening, entertaining and friendship” and is part of Meghan and Harry’s $100 million Netflix deal.
Talking about the new project, a Hollywood source said The everyday beast: ‘It all went well, and it’s in the can.’
Filming on the project began days after Meghan sent exclusive jars of her brand’s homemade jam to her loved ones.
A film permit application obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com revealed filming took place at two separate locations.
In April, Meghan spent the day surrounded by flowers from Florabundance, a florist located a 10-minute drive from Montecito in the coastal California town of Carpinteria.
The day after, production trucks lined the driveway of a $5 million estate set in eight acres of avocado trees and lemon groves in a gated community in Montecito for filming.