Officially over! Meghan is pulling the plug on the Archetypes podcast after withdrawing her application to trademark the title
- Meghan’s multi-million pound Spotify deal was canceled in June this year
- The application has now been withdrawn after an unsuccessful 17-month battle
The Duchess of Sussex has abandoned her dream of trademarking her podcast Archetypes after officially withdrawing her bid to protect the name.
Meghan’s multi-million pound Spotify deal was terminated in June this year after it was announced that the Archetypes podcast would not be renewed for a second season.
The move was officially said to be a ‘mutual’ decision between the streaming giant and Archewell Audio – the Duchess and Prince Harry’s company.
But sources close to the £15million deal – which was signed by the couple in 2020 – said it was scrapped after the pair failed to produce enough content to justify the full payout.
And Spotify CEO Bill Simmons went even further, describing the couple as “f****** grifters,” an Americanism for con artists.
The Duchess of Sussex has abandoned her dreams of trademarking her podcast Archetypes
Meghan’s (pictured on the podcast) multi-million pound Spotify deal was halted in June this year after it was revealed that the Archetypes podcast would not be renewed for a second season
However, filings with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) show that Archewell has ‘revived’ its trademark bid for the podcast title Archetypes, even after the Spotify deal had already been withdrawn.
But the application has now been withdrawn after an unsuccessful 17-month battle to get the title protected.
Meghan’s search to trademark the name began in March last year, when the application was first filed. But in January, the USPTO rejected it due to the “likelihood of confusion” with an existing trademark of the same name.
Archetypes – a word that first appeared in the English language 470 years ago – was already registered in May 2018 by the American company Project Miracle IP Holdings.
Project Miracle registered the name for ‘providing a website containing blogs and non-downloadable publications in the form of articles in the areas of nutrition, fitness, sexuality, psychological self-improvement, personality identification and matching, personal relationships and dating, spirituality, horoscopes and astrology, fashion, music, and book reviews and recommendations.”
The Sussexes’ attorney in the case subsequently requested an “adjournment” to provide a response, giving them until July 18 to respond to the USPTO’s “non-final action” to trademark rejection.
During this time – in June of this year – it was announced that Spotify would not be renewing the podcast for another season and dropped the couple.
The podcast, which aired a total of twelve episodes, sought to explore and undermine “the labels that try to limit women.”
Still, on July 24, USPTO received a “Petition to Resurrect the Trademark Application.”
It was submitted that the Archewell ‘respectfully disagrees that there is a likelihood of confusion’ and ‘requests that the denial be withdrawn’.
The application was revived shortly afterwards before the couple decided to end the battle once and for all last month when they withdrew by filing an ‘express cease and desist’.
The podcast, which aired a total of 12 episodes, featured guests such as Paris Hilton, Mindy Kaling and Serena Williams as it looked to explore and subvert “the labels that try to limit women.”
It also won the People’s Choice Award for Pop Podcast of 2022.
A representative for the Sussexes was contacted for comment.