"Meghan Markle's latest trademark application was denied last week, DailyMail.com can reveal, in a new major blow to her embattled American Riviera Orchard home goods brand.

The Duchess of Sussex's attempt to trademark her small-batch jams and other household goods has landed her in another sticky situation with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), after previous bungles and failures to secure rights over her podcast brand, Archewell, last year.

On August 31 the Patent Office denied her application, saying that businesses are not allowed to trademark geographic locations, including the nickname of the coastline around the Sussexes' Santa Barbara, California, home: 'the American Riviera'.

The refusal also included a slew of problems with her filing – including her apparent failure to sign the correct documents."
The USPTO admonished the Duchess for giving vague descriptions of her products that could fit into multiple trademark categories.

The office said her brand's proposed 'cocktail napkins' could be paper or textile – two different categories – and her 'cooking utensils' could be manual or electric.
American Rivera Orchard soft launched earlier this year as a lifestyle brand that will sell products such as jams and cookbooks

American Rivera Orchard soft launched earlier this year as a lifestyle brand that will sell products such as jams and cookbooks

The refusal even included a screenshot of another Santa Barbara business's product already using the term 'American Riviera'.

The screenshot showed that the site sbcoastalcandles.com sells an 'American Riviera' candle for $34.95.

"'Registration is refused because the applied-for mark is primarily geographically descriptive,' the Office said in its Saturday filing.

'Commonly used nicknames for geographic locations are generally treated as equivalent to the proper geographic name of the place identified.

'American Riviera is a common nickname for Santa Barbara, California.'"

"........Her trademark application already suffered an embarrassing setback when the USPTO said she failed to pay $11,382 in international registration fees and other 'irregularities' that needed to be 'corrected'."

The article states Meghan's lawyers can appeal the denial. I don't know how they can appeal stupid. Again, she didn't pay the fees and didn't sign the forms, how dense can she be when she repeats the same mistakes over and over?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13808441/meghan-markle-lifestyle-brand-american-riviera-orchard-trademark-product-launch.htm