By Hannah Furness
The Duchess of Sussex’s lifestyle brand has been served “notices of irregularity” as it seeks worldwide trademarks for its products from cookbooks to yoga blankets.
American Riviera Orchard (ARO), launched on Instagram alongside a dedicated website in March, will produce a wide range of homewares, including food, pet and gardening products.
It is currently seeking trademarked status in the US and worldwide, following multiple applications filed this year and still pending.
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ARO has now been served with several “notices of irregularity” as part of the international application process, asking the Duchess and her staff to reclassify some items correctly.
According to the Daily Mail, they include yoga blankets, picnic baskets and recipe books.
The Telegraph understands that the trademark registration process costs nearly £9,000 (approx. $1700 AUD), with all fees to date already paid.
In 2020, paperwork for Archewell was returned to them with a similar notice saying some of its wording was “indefinite and over-broad, and must be clarified to specify the nature of the content provided.”
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In 2021, in trademark applications relating to Archewell Audio, they were told that the “applicant must clarify that these are entertainment-based services” and “specify the nature of the live stage performances.”
In June 2023, an attempt to trademark Archewell, the name of the Duchess’ podcast, was rejected by the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) because there was too much of a “likelihood of confusion” with other brands.
The Duchess launched her ARO brand on social media on March 14, with a website featuring a gold logo resembling her royal cipher with its cursive ‘M’ topped with a crown.
It states that the brand is “by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex. Established 2024” and was accompanied by a similar Instagram page.
A short video showed Meghan arranging flowers, baking in a kitchen and posing in the doorway of a mansion in a ballgown.
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She has since delivered branded jars of jam to some friends, who published photographs on Instagram, and has trademarked hundreds of options for products from meditation pillows to greeting cards, nut butter, pet feeding mats and garden weeding forks.
The range will tie into an at-home-style Netflix documentary about Meghan’s hosting skills, celebrating “the joys of cooking, gardening, entertaining, and friendship.”
ARO was initially expected to launch this year, but now seems likely to be pushed back into 2025.
© Telegraph Media Group Limited 2023
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