Meghan Markle pulls the plug on Archetypes podcast after withdrawing her application to trademark the title
Meghan Markle pulls the plug on Archetypes podcast after withdrawing her application to trademark the title
- Meghan’s multi-million-pound Spotify deal was axed in June this year
- Application has now been withdrawn following an unsuccessful 17-month battle
The Duchess of Sussex has dumped her dreams of trademarking her podcast Archetypes after she officially withdrew her bid to protect the name.
Meghan’s multi-million-pound Spotify deal was axed in June this year after it was announced that the Archetypes podcast would not be renewed for a second season.
The move was officially said to have been a ‘mutual’ decision between the streaming giant and Archewell Audio – the Duchess and Prince Harry‘s company.
But sources close to the £15million deal – which was signed by the couple in 2020 – said it was was dropped after the pair did not produce enough content to warrant the full payout.
And Spotify exec Bill Simmons went further, describing the couple as ‘f****** grifters’, an Americanism for swindlers.
The Duchess of Sussex has dumped her dreams of trademarking her podcast Archetypes
Meghan’s (pictured on the podcast) multi-million-pound Spotify deal was axed in June this year after it was announced that the Archetypes podcast would not be renewed for a second season
However, applications lodged with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reveal that Archewell ‘revived’ its trademark bid for the Archetypes podcast title even after the Spotify deal had already been dropped.
But the application has now been withdrawn following an unsuccessful 17-month battle to have the title protected.
Meghan’s quest to trademark the name began in March last year when the application was first lodged. But in January USPTO rejected it because of the ‘likelihood of confusion’ with an existing trademark of the same name.
Archetypes – a word which first appeared in the English language 470 years ago – was already registered by US-based company Project Miracle IP Holdings in May 2018.
Project Miracle registered the name for ‘providing a website featuring blogs and nondownloadable publications in the nature of articles in the field(s) of nutrition, fitness, sexuality, psychological self-improvement, personality identification and matching, personal relationships and dating, spirituality, horoscopes and astrology, fashion, music, and reviews and recommendations for books.’
The Sussexes attorney in the matter then applied for an ‘extension’ to provide a response, which gave them until July 18 to respond to USPTO’s ‘non-final action’ of rejecting the trademark.
During this time – in June this year – is when it was announced that Spotify would not renew the podcast for another season and dropped the couple.
Meghan Markle’s podcast (pictured), which aired 12 episodes in total, looked to ‘examine and subvert the labels that seek to limit women’
Yet, on July 24 USPTO received a ‘petition to revive’ the trademark application.
It was argued that the Archewell ‘respectfully disagrees that there is a likelihood of confusion’ and ‘requests that the refusal be withdrawn’.
The application was revived shortly after before the couple decided to put an end to the battle last month once and for all when they withdrew by filing an ‘express abandonment’.
The podcast, which aired 12 episodes in total, had guests including Paris Hilton, Mindy Kaling, and Serena Williams as it looked to ‘examine and subvert the labels that seek to limit women’.
It also won the People’s Choice Award for Pop Podcast of 2022.
A representative for the Sussexes was approached for comment.
