Meghan Markle is thinking about a new name for her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard (ARO), in case her current name doesn’t get approved, according to a source.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently rejected her application to use the ARO name, which has caused some confusion for her team.
The source mentioned that Meghan’s team might need to find a backup name, similar to what Kim Kardashian did when she had to change her shapewear brand name from Kimono to Skims due to cultural issues.
“The team is working on alternative names just in case,” the source said. “They’re a bit stressed but not too worried because Kim Kardashian also had to rebrand and it turned out fine.”
Changing the name now would be expensive because of all the branding work already done, but it’s not considered a disaster.
In March, Meghan Markle introduced her new lifestyle brand on social media and had filed for a trademark for the name American Riviera Orchard in February.
Her company aims to sell various home goods like cookbooks and tableware, as well as food and drink products such as jams and vegetable spreads. They are also considering adding a rose wine to their product line.
However, the trademark application was recently rejected. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) said that “American Riviera” is a common nickname for the Santa Barbara, California area, which makes the name too generic and hard to trademark. The USPTO’s decision was announced on August 31.
The American Riviera refers to the California area, including Montecito, where Meghan Markle lives with Prince Harry and their children, Prince Archie, who is five, and Princess Lilibet, who is three.
Another source mentioned that trademark disputes are common in the U.S. and can usually be resolved. “It looks like American Riviera Orchard has received a few routine office actions, which is normal when filing for trademarks,” the source said.
The Sussexes have not yet commented on the situation.
WATCH : Taylor Swifts Utter Disrespect For Celine Dion
Taylor Swift made history at the 2024 Grammys, becoming the first person ever to win “Album of the Year” four times. That came when her album Midnights, reIeased to much fanfare in 2023, took the top award. Not everyone was fawning over Taylor, however, with some on social media expressing their displeasure with how, in their view, rudely she acted when she accepted their award.
Essentially, they argued that Ms. Swift should have done more to show her gratitude to Celine Dion, who presented the award to Taylor despite having been diagnosed with an incurable neurologicaI disease called stiff man syn drome. To many viewers, it appeared that Taylor ignored Dion when accepting the award despite Dion’s difficulty in being on stage.
For example, one commenter on Fox News’ post on Facebook about Taylor’s Grammys win wrote, “Good for her but she should absolutely be ashamed of herself! She walked on stage, took the Grammy from Celine & dismissed her like she was no one! Celine Dion is battling a disease & I’m sure struggIed to even show up! I felt so sorry for her & the way she was treated! Somebody, please teach Ms. Taylor some manners!”
Leave a Reply