Meghan Markle Reportedly Mulls New Name For American Riviera Orchard

The former “Suits” actress filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office [USPTO] to trademark several of her products alongside the brand’s name.

However, the office recently rejected Meghan Markle’s brand name, stating that businesses cannot trademark geographical locations.

Meghan has found herself in a dilemma after the USPTO rejected her trademark application for her brand name.

The mother of two has been working on the application for some time and is also seeking to trademark several products she plans to sell when the brand launches at full scale.

However, the duchess encountered this setback because her brand name included the word “American” in its description.

According to the USPTO, businesses cannot trademark geographical location, and Meghan’s including “Orchard” in the name title “does not diminish the primarily geographical descriptiveness of the applied for mark.”

“The team are thinking of backups as we speak just in case,” a source informed the Express. “They’ve been put into a bit of a last-minute spin, but they’re not too worried because they are aware that Kim [Kardashian] also changed her brand name after launch, and it still did amazingly well.”

Just as Kim Kardashian had to change her brand name from Kimono to SKIMS, Meghan may be forced to take a similar step.

If she does, Meghan is expected to face some financial losses, as the duchess has already invested significantly in the current brand name despite the fact that the brand has yet to launch at full scale.

The source revealed, “It will be a rather costly measure if they have to change the name at this late stage due to all the branding, but it won’t be the end of the world.”

Still, the team isn’t surprised that they hit this snag, as they believe it is “routine and expected” when applying for trademarks at the USPTO.

Whatever move Meghan decides to make, she has three months to act or risk having the application dropped entirely. She will also need to pay an additional $700 to proceed with the trademark filing.

The news comes weeks after the U.S. agency asked Meghan to make corrections to several “irregularities” with her trademark application for her products.

According to the Daily Mail, Meghan’s application to the agency incorrectly classified some items, such as yoga blankets and recipe books.

It’s unclear if the duchess has resolved those irregularities, but given the limited time available to resolve such issues, they are likely already addressed.

At the time, it was also mentioned that Meghan would pay $11,382 in fees for registering the trademark with various entities if her application is ultimately approved.

As part of her preparation to launch her brand, Meghan enlisted Netflix’s help. The streaming giant will handle major arrangements for the official launch of the lifestyle venture and has assigned their team to oversee deals with wholesalers, designers, growers, and retailers.

The actress and her husband, Prince Harry, signed a deal with Netflix in 2020. It has since led to the development of several projects in collaboration with the couple’s Archewell production company.

On the side, Meghan is working on a cooking show with the company, which will complement the official launch of the lifestyle brand. The filming for the cooking show is believed to be complete, but a release date is yet to be disclosed.

The former actress has since launched an Instagram page to promote the brand after years of not having a presence on the social media site.

The page has since attracted over 600,000 followers, showing that there is significant interest in Meghan’s business.

Additionally, the Duchess of Sussex created a website for the brand, which currently directs visitors to a landing page.

Users are prompted to enter their email addresses to join a waiting list and receive updates on “products, availability, and news” from American Riviera Orchard.