A lot of us really hoped that the Duchess of Sussex would drop some kind of American Riviera Orchard product line before Christmas, so we could support ARO and Meghan by buying those products as gifts. But it’s not going to happen. Or at least, it’s probably not going to happen in 2024. It looks like Meghan is still dealing with the bureaucracy of launching a brand, and her lawyers have asked for an extension from the trademark office.
The Duchess of Sussex has asked officials for three more months to get her lifestyle brand up and running. Lawyers for the Duchess, 43, have requested an extension in her attempt to trademark her commercial venture American Riviera Orchard.
It comes after her initial application to trademark the name was refused by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in September, after which she was given three months to address the issues or face having the application dropped.
She has now asked for a further three-month extension to address the filing issues for her brand, which will promote a domestic idyll through the sale of jams, nut butters and home goods. If the next deadline is missed, the Duchess will have to start the application process again with the USPTO, which rejected the first try after noting that businesses cannot trademark geographical locations.
It said that American Riviera was a “common nickname” for Santa Barbara, the California city where Prince Harry and Meghan reside, and argued the addition of the word Orchard “does not diminish the primarily geographical descriptiveness of the applied for mark”.
The Duchess had already soft-launched her brand with a slick video and a website created on March 14 that remains a holding page inviting supporters to join a waiting list that keeps them updated about “products, availability and updates”.
It’s been years of the British media trying to make “trademark issues” into a global scandal. But this time, I actually think there’s something interesting going on – it really does not feel like ARO is anywhere close to launching. It really does not feel like ARO will have anything to sell whenever Meghan’s cooking show comes out, which will probably be in January or February? Unless this is all a feint and Meghan will come out with everything all at once whenever her Netflix show debuts?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.
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- Meghan, Duchess of Sussex helps to prepare food at the launch of a cookbook with recipes from a group of women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire at Kensington Palace in London on September 20, 2018.,Image: 534009013, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Meghan (C), Duchess of Sussex helps to prepare food at the launch of a cookbook with recipes from a group of women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire at Kensington Palace in London on September 20, 2018.,Image: 534009034, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Meghan, Duchess of Sussex helps to prepare food at the launch of a cookbook with recipes from a group of women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire at Kensington Palace in London on September 20, 2018.,Image: 534009087, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Meghan, Duchess of Sussex helps to prepare food at the launch of a cookbook with recipes from a group of women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire at Kensington Palace in London on September 20, 2018.,Image: 534009088, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (C) and Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex gather for a family picture during the launch of a cookbook with recipes from a group of women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire at Kensington Palace in London on September 20, 2018.,Image: 534009189, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
Meghan should just relaunch the Tig.
Maybe someone else own the rights to that name? Otherwise, I agree, go back to The Tig, which is something Meghan was successfully doing pre Harry.
I have no idea what’s going on, but do find the gleeful shadenfreude gross: it would be nice if they were cheering success and being supportive instead to hoping she’ll fail.
As far as I’m aware, Meghan still has the rights to the name. The British press makes a big deal every-time she renews the copyright for the Tig. Plus, there’s no way that the British establishment is going to ever be positive about what Meghan does. In their eyes she took Harry away from them and attacked the Royal Family.
If I remember correctly, when Meg shut down The Tig, she *did* continue to keep the name so no one could *squat* on it and say things “in her name”.
Personally, I think The Tig is would be instantly recognizable, and as you said, it was Meg’s “voice” before she met Harry, and his insane family tried to silence her.
ARO name just seems more pretentious, honestly; Tig was warm, friendly, and inviting IMO ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The brand name is kind of silly and too long anyway IMO. Maybe she should just rebrand and relaunch so that she can actually start getting her product on the market?
Agreed it does not scan as a brand name.
Also ‘American Riviera’ is a place which will mean she keeps running into difficulties with the brand.
Tig – strawberry jam is good for me and reminds the world she was a brand and had a voice long before the dusty Brits got their hands on her
I want the very best for them, I want them to succeed, but man. The roll out on ARO has been horrible.
According to Richard Eden (grain of salt), Meghan launched American Riviera Orchard because he had the scoop about it. But I don’t think what’s she’s doing in any different to what Beyonce, Rhianna or any other celebrity did when they launched their products. I think the roll out only looks bad because of the way the British press (and maybe the fans) is hyper focused on it.
Yeah a lot of this stuff would have been handled on the back end before they were ready to launch, but when you have an entire news media monitoring government public record sites for your name sometimes you have to move unexpectedly. No one can tell me that they don’t believe that if she hadn’t just announced it, that the British media via heritage foundation or someone else would not have also tried to launch or do something with American Riviera orchard just to be a burr on their back side. Paparazzi and celeb mags are nosy, they aren’t actively trying to ruin the lives of celebrities you can’t say that about the British media for Harry and Meghan.
Wow. What an utter load of claptrap on a site that is nominally supportive of Meghan. Meghan’s chosen name is silly. I don’t like it. Wah. Comments farther down below are denigrating Meghan for being too high profile to not immediately execute a successful trademark application without significant opposition from BRFCo & Assoc., or anybody with a similar sounding name. Horrors, the comments below say – her launch is horrid, her attorneys are horrid, her PR team is horrid and she should be doing what I say, not what she wants. 😩
As for Harry & David’s opposition to American Riviera Orchard, their stranglehold on calling Comice pears “Rivieras” could be slipping. Primarily due to their own actions. I just bought a little box of Harry & David’s Comice pears at Trader Joe’s. Nary a sign anywhere on the box that they might be called Riviera. Just Harry & David’s Comice pears.
When I first hear the name of the company, I thought it sounded weird and pretentious. I think few people outside Santa Barbara know it’s also called the American Rivera. At least, the further you are removed from the area, the less you would know it. She needs a shorter name for the company that is more associated with her.
She should call it the Tig.
The Tig does not have a registered trademark so even if she named it The Tig and wanted to start selling products she would have to go through this process again. You can still sell products without a trademark (serena williams brand doesn’t have one, rihanna’s brand didn’t have one in the beginning) but it’s just safer to have one for protection and it makes it easier to sell outside of America.
The process she’s going through now is normal for most start up businesses. Acquiring a trademark can take months to years.
@Melissa The Tig trademark is live and pending since 2022. I believe she had it already trademarked about 10 years ago. But it was canceled or removed from the registry. Rhianna trademarked Fenty in 2013 and Fenty Beauty launched in 2017. (Which Rhianna is a 50/50 owner with LVMH). A billion dollar corporation to launch it.
I don’t know if Meghan has investors or not at this point. Or has the infrastructure in place to create and sell on a larger scale.
But of course the British media is going to focus on this and try to spin it as a fail. It’s all part of the process to launch a private company.
I would think that she has patent attorneys handling the branding. If so, it’s puzzling that they didn’t forsee this problem with the name. 🤔 It’s also kinda weird that no one anticipated the British rags being eager to screw things up.
These kind of issues are common for any new brand. Don’t let the British media gaslight you into thinking that these patent issues aren’t common. Most brands don’t have the BM hyper focused on every filing they make before the official launch.
Years ago my husband and I had a small business making fishing lures that he had designed. The time and effort to trademark and patent is staggering, the back and forth between the government, our attorneys and us was like another full-time job. The time it took allowed others to duplicate my husband’s designs and under cut our prices, all in all it was very frustrating and disheartening.
PTO employee here and these are not typical delays. Sure, one extension isn’t that unusual but two is almost unheard of. The real question is why her legal team let this happen. Unless they let Meg know about the issues and she decided to move ahead anyway, there’s no excuse for such shoddy legal work. This isn’t rocket science.
The UK media has actively monitored trademark applications with any association to Meghan and Harry since they left and, if I remember correctly, Meghan was pushed into opening the Insta ARO account because Eden was about to publish a piece on the application (as mentioned in another comment above).
I’d find it wonderfully amusing if the jam “promo” turns out to be just a distraction exercise.
Why go for another extension. It’s obvious that the patent office is not going to accept it. She needs to rename it something like Meghan’s joy. I know she probably thought American Rivera was classy but it has caused her so many problems. Change the name and get on with it.
Are you a lawyer that works with patents? How do you know ‘it will never be excepted?’ Are you basing this off a Daily Telegraph article.? I saw a thread from a patent lawyer recently who said this kind of thing is normal it’s just that you don’t hear about it with most businesses because the British press isn’t obsessed with everything they are doing. Meghan will be fine and she will launch when she is ready.
I saw this same thread last time this was in the media. There is nothing unusual about what is going on. Bureaucracy tends to be like this, especially trademark law.
Please never give advice again if you think naming a brand “Meghan’s joy” is a good thing.
Every start up business goes through this process because acquiring a trademark is not easy. It can take months to years.
Rude. I can assure you I am 100% behind Harry and Meghan. I joined Republic Uk (not my king).Here in the UK we get bombarded about how terrible Harry and Meghan are. I just would like her website to be up and running to see what lovely things we can buy. I think we all all getting impatient.
YOU THINK M thought it was classy? Are you a patent attorney and a mind reader? Way to trivialise M’s chosen name, be dismissive of her as though she’s being pretentious (which M never has been) and show yourself up all in one sentence. Somehow, Meghan can live without your advice.
As a brand strategist (not a patent attorney), I can at least say that a brand name must not be too general or descriptive. This is because you can’t trademark something that is in common usage. That is the problem. You can register anything, but you run the risk of the trademark right being contested later and ultimately losing it. However, this usually only happens when there is “something to be gained” from the trademark. I suppose that’s the real problem for Meghan – the risk of all the vultures coming later. It would make sense if the name was altered or changed.
Whenever it’s ready to roll, I’m ready to receive.
Same💕
❤️
I guess I don’t understand the process. How do you turn this down but allow stuff like “apple” to be trademarked.
Apple is an interesting case.
I can’t remember the details of the history ATM, but there was a big dust up with the Beatles when the tech company barreled forward with the name and started launching products.
Because the Beatles had been using the word Apple for their brand and businesses, and logo since the mid-sixties, pretty much worldwide, including an active and physical launch in the US. (Like the beatles doing press to launch it, holding apples) So their legal team contested the use of it by the computer company.
IIRC Steve Jobs was all Don’t Worry, Fab Four, it’s just for computer stuff, we’ll steer clear of music stuff… and then launched the iPod and iTunes. And that’s why the Beatles catalogue wasn’t available for years on those products; their team refused to license it.
Has anyone received any communication from the initial soft launch earlier this year? I signed up for email notices, but my spam filter is strong and I rarely check it.
“businesses cannot trademark geographical locations.”
Aha.
I’m sure Kentucky Fried Chicken and Florida’s Natural Orange Juice or Hawaiian Tropic would beg to differ, had the Torygraph bothered to ask.
Doesn’t one have to be an actual royal to use that descriptor, maybe?
Again — isn’t there anything worth reporting about the Left-Behinds and their slumlording, jewel-flogging, taxpayer-defrauding ways?
You cannot trademark things that are solely place names and the rejection here has to do with orchard also being descriptive of geography. Kentucky (place) Fried Chicken (thing); Florida’s (place) Natural (adjective) Orange Juice (thing); etc. The combination makes them distinct from the places themselves and her lawyers are likely arguing that orchard, in this instance, serves that same function.
count me among those who wish she would go back to the Tig — it is easy to remember, pops as current and fresh and doesn’t sound stuffy and pretentious.
The roll out for the jam was cool and the lemons were a great touch — but it is also something readily available in all flavors and forms up and down the coast — I am hoping for something more specific to Meghan.
Tig was openly known to be short for Tignanello wine so maybe naming it that is seen as problematic and confusing. Now that the name is out there and a lot of people shorten it to ARO maybe that would be an option. I wonder if she wants it to point specifically to the location because she is sourcing ingredients from farms there. It brings attention to the whole area.
Doing a trademark search ARO is already a registered trademark for several companies. Incluiding one for food. So that probably would not work.
Richard Eden is the last person who should be commenting on American trademark law. He specializes in petty gossip. This is like when the British media made up wholesale lies about the letter case until Meghan won at every level despite Jason Knauf trying to help the tabloids.
Everything about this is speculation and nonsense to try to attack Meghan. She’s got actual trademark lawyers on this and they will sort it out.
I agree with your comments 💯%.. Eden knows nothing and understands even less, especially about building a business in the States.
It’s like when Maureen/Richard could “reveal”, the Royal Foundation donated money to the IG’s. When it was a transfer of funds from Endeavor (Harry’s vets funds?) to the IG’s. Or, when, Eden confidential “revealed” Americans were donating millions to the Cambridges/Wank’s foundation. When, in actuality, it was a handful of Americans that were in parternership with Earthsh*te. They were donating through the American arm of their foundation. It wasn’t millions of Americans donating to them.lol Maureen/Richard is a petty gossip word spinner.
Will always laugh when he tweets about the # of people that watch his show. Might be wrong and ill informed? Does Colbert do this? As an example.
All I know is Eden is very ‘ill’ and ‘uniformed’.imo
Doing a Trademark search The Tig is still live and pending. Maybe if ARO fails to trademark she can pivot to relaunching her jam line under The Tig umbrella. If/when it gets approved.
I have watched enough Shark episodes to know how long and expensive it is to launch a company with all the patents and trademarks that go into it. And Meghan and her team are a small business. They do not have endless pockets like any other small business owner. That is not backed by some big conglomorate that is basically a brand deal.
All I know is as someone who happily pays too much for Jam when I visit Martha’s Vineyard. I will also happily pay for her jam. I love a good jam.
While the British media love to punch her down. The influencers and celebs that celebrated her jam on social media when she sent it out as gifts. Was lovely to see the rallying behind her.
I even re-subscribed to Netflix just so I can get her cooking show when it airs.
I can wait Megs!
The problem is that many of you on here think that she’s not getting the trademark because of the name. In reality it can be many things like the logo, or the logo design, or the products, etc.
Acquiring a trademark is a long process. Many famous celebrities brands like rihanna, hailey bieber, gwyneth paltrow, etc took a good 2 years to get a registered trademark. The only difference is that they didn’t have a whole country’s press stalking and reporting their every move. This process is normal.
Harry & David specifically objected to the name because one of their products is called Royal Riviera. So, it is a name issue.
Can we all now boycott Harry & David? I know I am.
It was the british media who objected the name, not the actual company Harry & David.
Objecting a name because it shares the word riviera in it is like every makeup brand objecting eachother because they have the name ‘beauty’ in it e.g. Fenty beauty, Rhode beauty, REM beauty, WYN Beauty, etc
Harry & David lodged an official complaint.
That is exactly what this latest kerfuffle is about.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/11/01/meghan-markles-jam-brand-faces-trademark-protest-from-famed-oregon-company/
Why boycott them? It’s a legitimate objection and the Royal Riviera trademark has been around since 1936.
https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=98441826&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=documentSearch
The above link takes you to the TSDR page of the US trademark office, wherein you can see the memorandum issued by the examiner regarding a protest, about the ARO name, filed by Harry & David.
This is likely how the Daily Mail knew about this protest by Harry & David. They have one or more persons monitoring the website.
If the link does not work, you just do a search for ARO and use their number to do a TSDR search.
Convinced yet,@melissa, that this is about the name?
BOYCOTT HARRY & DAVID !!!
@eurydice, the word Riviera is indeed included in both names but I see no concern for confusion between a single product line of a company called Royal Riviera, specific to a certain type of pear, and the name of a company called American Riviera Orchard.
Are we to presume now that Harry & David would and has objected to every single trademark application, at least in part related to food, including the word Riviera? I doubt that’s the case.
Funnily enough, I just saw recently a Harry & David television commercial about their pears and nowhere was the term Royal Riviera mentioned! Harry & David is just being pissy and it makes me wonder who owns the company now?
Sorry, but those are the best darned pears on the planet! Not boycotting!
Oh, and @Mayp: I don’t know who owns the company now, but it was a Holmes up through the mid1980s–as in Harry and David Holmes, the brothers who started the company. The last Holmes to own it was the grandson of either Harry or David. He sold it to RJ Reynolds (the tobacco company), which then sold it to a Japanese pharmaceutical company. No idea who owns it now.
FYI: I worked there for about eight years, it’s located in my home town.
@beaniebean, I was wondering who owned Harry & David now because the objection to me, as I said, seems pissy and I was wondering if it came from some right wing Trump supporter.
Well, lo’ and behold it is now 1-800-flowers.com.inc that owns Harry & David and the founder and CEO recently indicated in an article, where he tried to appear neutral, that he was very happy that there was a decisive end to the election so as to not impede Christmas sales.
Interestingly, he knows Trump and has met with him “many times” :
“I happen to know him from growing up — not well, but I’ve met him many times,” said McCann, a Trump contemporary who, like the president-elect, was raised in Queens, N.Y. “I’m going to call on him to be his better self and to show the growth and maturity that this country needs from its leader.”
Gross. Look, I’m from Oregon and have fond memories of Harry & David from my childhood; however, it is no longer, and has not been for a long time, the same company. And, I’ve had better pears!
@BeanieBean Makes sense for you to buy if it is in your hometown. I can find pears closer to my home to save environmental impact.
@beaniebean, a prior response to you didn’t post so I will just say that I confirmed that Harry & David is now owned by an acquaintance of Trump’s who has met with him “many times.”.
I am now not at all surprised that it filed an opposition to the name American Riviera Orchard.
@Mayp, the link you provide, is repeating the same info from the DM. As does, any other story about this. Yes, Harry & David have a trademark on their ‘Royal Riviera’ pears. They are delicious.imo
I don’t see where H&D are filing a complaint. Just the BM claiming a complaint has been filed? American Riviera has been used before. Those trademarks are dead now. It seems like Maureen/cough/BM affiliates are trying to say Meghan is using ‘Royal’ in the name, and she’s not. They’ll say anything for clicks.
@agreatreckoning, if you read my above posts you will see that the document regarding the objection of Harry & David appears at the TSDR search page of the US Trademark office.
Thank you @Mayp. Didn’t want to download everything. Saw a complaint filed. I must have missed something? Didn’t see where it was a complaint filed from H&D. I probably missed something.
It might be my naturally suspicious nature (lol), was it H&D filing a complaint or a tentacle of the BM filing a complaint about the name. The whole thing is weird.
IMO, I don’t see how American Riviera Orchards would be confused with Royal Riviera pears. Unless, the word ‘Riviera’ confuses people and that the “supposed irrelevant royal” is involved.
Getting a trademark registered is no easy matter.
The App GUU (Goods Unite Us) rates H and D as donors to 45.
Thanks for the info, I should have read your post before I tried to do my own research! This confirms what I suspected.
Did they also donate to Harris? Because it’s fairly common for companies to donate to both candidates.
If for some reason she is unable to use ARO the next name chosen will be even better than ARO.
Maureen Eden is a pathetic man trying desperately to write something, anything that will earn him a few coins. No matter what is happening in that country they sit and gripe about a family living on the other side of the Atlantic. M has not mentioned that family since the Oprah interview. No interviews, no visits, low visibility spending her time being a mom and wife while working on projects for their foundation and businesses.
All I have to say, is that some of the posters here, sounds like derangers talking points
American Riviera Orchards sound like the wine David and his mom had to drink on Schitts Creek. Or like a sponsored brand that Ricky Bobby would have put on his race car
If she has to change the name or come up with something more creative, then just do that. Remember Kim Kardashian was originally gonna call her loungewear brand Kimono and that was shot down very quickly, renamed it and now Skims is very successful. Hopefully it will get sorted out and she’ll launch whatever she plans on doing.
If you read through the docs there are a few issues:
1. The name: there has been some backlash from harry and David and there are some questions they have that are simple to answer..example how are you different from other items in the market (standard questions)
2. The logo and name that was sent. The logo has some specifications that weren’t met and the name “duchess Megan” ain’t valid in the us and they asked for an alternate name.
3. Visuals: there has been no substantial info or photos given for what will be offered and they can’t deduce from a screenshot what it may be.
4. Where will these items be manufactured??? This is huge for the US and things like this. They haven’t responded to repeated questions about it…
This stuff is business 101 so I don’t know who they are using to fill this stuff out