She’ll have to stick to her jams for now.
Meghan Markle reportedly won’t be able to sell clothes under her new As Ever brand as it’s too similar to the name of a Chinese clothing company.
Per documents obtained by DailyMail.com over the weekend, Markle’s lawyers applied for permission at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to sell aprons and other items under the new “As Ever” name back in October 2022.
However, their petition received a “partial rejection” in July 2023, stating that the Duchess of Sussex could not sell clothing because the name of her brand was too similar to the Chinese company ASEVER.
ASEVER is based in Shenzhen, China, and supplies to stores like H&M.
“The marks are identical in sound and virtually identical in appearance and are thus confusingly similar for the purposes of determining likelihood of confusion,” the rejection document read.
In January 2024, Markle removed mentions of clothing before filing a revised application, which was ultimately approved.
Although she is not banned from selling clothes overall, if she wants to do so, she has to file for a different brand name.
On Feb. 18, Markle announced that she was rebranding her American Riviera Orchard brand and renaming it as “As Ever.”
After admitting that she had to do so over a series of trademark setbacks, she added via an Instagram video, “Last year, I had thought, ‘You know what? American Riviera, that sounds like such a great name.’ It’s my neighborhood, it’s a nickname for Santa Barbara, but it limited me to things that were just manufactured and grown in this area.”
While referencing her upcoming show with Netflix, “With Love, Meghan,” she explained that she settled on the new name after the streaming giant “came on, not just as my partner in the show but as my partner in business, which was huge.”
“So I thought about it, and I’ve been waiting for a moment to share a name that I had secured in 2022, and this is the moment, and it’s called As Ever,” she said.
Markle, 43, initially launched her lifestyle brand in April 2024 with the release of her strawberry jam.
However, soon after the relaunch of her brand last week, Markle faced several roadblocks, including claims of plagiarism from Xisca Mora, who is the mayor of the Mallorcan town of Porreres.
Mora claimed she was considering suing Markle for seemingly copying the small town’s coat of arms for the As Ever brand logo.
Porreres’ coat of arms features a palm tree in the center and two birds flying toward it, which is nearly identical to the logo design created for Markle’s lifestyle brand.
Mora was later forced to admit that, even if they wanted to sue Markle, they couldn’t afford it.
Markle was slammed again earlier this month by the owner of a family-run NYC clothing brand (also named “As Ever”) who claimed they were “exploring all possibilities” on how to handle the similar name.
After thanking their customers for their support, Mark Kolski noted that he was not affiliated with Markle’s brand.
“This venture started back in 2015 when I reworked vintage military to make our signature tanker pant for my wife, Astrid Dahl as a side hobby. It was followed by a pink jumpsuit that quickly became a cult classic,” he said in an Instagram post.
Kolski said his company became official in 2017 and he is “grateful” to still be making clothes in New York and New Jersey today.
However, he admitted that he did not have the trademark for the name of his brand.
“With Love, Meghan” streams March 4 on Netflix.
Read the full article here
