I would blame her attorneys and business people for missing duplicate/confusing names and logos, not necessarily her (unless she did use that Mallorca town coat of arms as ‘inspiration.’) I’m always surprised when companies make mistakes with branding, but I shouldn’t be, because it happens all the time.
I would be shocked if the lawyers/business people didn’t see that an As Ever brand existed (it can be found in a two second google search). They may have felt they could usurp the name. Unfortunately, it seems that As Ever was not trademarked by the small family run company which has been using the name for years. Meghan Markle caught in another branding snafu as NYC clothing label As Ever speaks out
MM may not have even known about this, but not a good look for the team.
Sheesh. She really can’t catch a break with this whole product launch.
How did her lawyers/advisers miss this? If the interwebs could find this other brand immediately, surely her team could have anticipated this? The articles above say that she secured the name As Ever back in 2022. That’s three years of legwork and research that never turned up this other As Ever brand? Hard to believe.
Her explanation for the brand pivot also feels disingenuous. Calling it American Riviera would not have restricted her to products grown there - it’s not an AVA and she’s not selling wine. “American Riviera” is also not a neighborhood nickname that anyone in Montecito uses without a healthy dose of winking sarcasm.
It seems to me that she is still trying to sell some sepia-tinted version of a charmed life - running barefoot in the grass, tending gardens, cooking pasta from scratch… it’s all lovely and she is immaculate of course but it’s just not connecting in my opinion. The world feels a little too jagged for this life-of-leisure vibe.
(Again just my opinion! I am willing and prepared to try her jam and love it if it’s good )
A formal federal registration with USPTO is not required for a business to acquire rights to its trademark. That said, common law limits trademark rights territorially, only to those areas where the business is selling its product or services. I’m not a trademark attorney so hopefully someone with the actual knowledge of the trademark laws chimes in.
Poor Meghan. I would have fired my lawyers - and graphic designers, too. That grey tree and birds logo is hideous.
Maybe it was her design
I don’t know. I looked at the design and I think they are different enough. Different shape shield, different shape palm, hummingbirds rather than swallows, black and white vs color. I buy that this was original and not plagiarized. There are so many things in this world that are created already, I don’t find it surprising that a new creation would be very similar to something that already exists.
I would fire myself if that was my design!
With Love, Meghan. Anyone watched? The reviews have been scathing
The reviews are so bad!
The rumor is that William Morris Agency is dropping the Duchess as a client. Has anyone heard anything? Or is it one of those unsubstantiated stories?
What were the ratings?
Not released yet
I have not watched it. And doubt I will… unless it is a ladies’ night with wine and we need something for silly, snarky conversation.
Those reviews are
WME has denied. We’ll see
The show is a pass for me…but honestly it was a pass even before the reviews.
I may watch it tonight. Need an alternative
I thought I’d check it out as a palette cleanser. It’s bad. Lamentably out of touch.
Meghan suffers from an overenchantment with herself, and the “friends” who drop in to her rented house/set just blow smoke up her behind.
She acts like she has been hosting and cooking and beekeeping all her life, but fails to realize that Martha Stewart and Ina Garten actually had done those things all their lives before they attempted to present themselves as masters.
That’s too bad. I was really hoping for a win for her. I was really hoping that she’d connect with her authentic self and project herself as a strong, independent, American woman.
I was too. It’s in there somewhere, that’s clear from her charisma.
But this is not the vehicle. It’s inauthentic and that’s the kiss of death for this millennial+ demographic.
Too perfect. Too polished. Almost like a boho version of Downton Abbey.