Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Archewell trademark application is too vague
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been told their application to trademark Archewell, the proposed name for their new non-profit organisation is “overbroad” and they must look at it again.
Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, confirmed earlier this year that they would name their new non-profit Archewell, and subsequently filed a trademark application in the US.
But it appears the application has taken a blow, as an examining attorney ruled it was “indefinite and too broad”, and the couple didn’t pay enough money for the fees.
The attorney’s notes, seen by Yahoo UK, also reveal the application wasn’t signed.
The couple has six months to respond to the attorney’s points or the application will be abandoned.
A source told Yahoo UK “this is part of the normal back-and-forth of the trademarking process”, and it’s not correct that the application has been refused.
More updates from the couple will follow.
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A refusal for the term ‘Archecares’ has been attached to the couple’s documents, but this was not filed by the Sussexes team.
In the review, the attorney criticised the plans for selling goods and services as “indefinite and too broad”, saying the application needed to specify the commercial or generic names of the goods.
In the duke and duchess’s application, they said they wanted trademark rights for books, magazines, clothing, education materials, a website and support groups, among other things.
The couple has also been asked to be more specific about the fields which their educational resources will cover.
The trademark application was filed in Delaware by Majorie Witter Norman for the couple, who have been living in Los Angeles with their son Archie since March.
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The duke and duchess revealed the name for their organisation, Archewell, came from the Greek word Arche, which was also the inspiration for their son’s name.
Arche means ‘source of action’.
Harry and Meghan are understood to have delayed the launch of the non-profit, at first because of the coronavirus pandemic and then as the world listened to the Black Lives Matter movement.
However the couple are said not to have changed their focus, but to be looking to incorporate all the work into the future organisation.
