Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has dropped her bid to revive her ‘Archetypes’ podcast.
The 42-year-old had the show axed when Spotify pulled the plug on her and husband Prince Harry’s multi-million dollar content deal, but applications were lodged with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the ‘Archetypes’ title after the deal was cancelled.
It emerged on Friday (22.09.23) the bid has now been withdrawn following an unsuccessful 17-month battle to have the name officially protected.
A joint statement from Meghan and Harry’s Archewell foundation and Spotify said they had “mutually agreed to part ways”, but there have been reports they were dropped as they weren’t producing enough content.
Meghan and Harry had sought to claim rights to ‘Archetypes’ in areas such as “downloadable audio recordings and podcasts” and in anything that fell into the category of “cultural treatment of women and stereotypes facing women”.
Within 10 months of the application bid, Meghan received her first set-back, with the USPTO rejecting the claim based on “confusion” it could cause with “an existing trademark with the same name”.
The name already existed with another US company called Project Miracle IP Holdings, lodged in May 2018.
An extension saw Meghan and Harry given until July to respond, one month after Spotify dropped the ‘Archetypes’ podcast.
Meghan and Harry’s lawyer Marjorie Witter Norman, from the LA-based firm Willkie, Farr and Gallagher, re-applied for an extra three months to tweak the application, which gave them up to September.
It was argued by Archewell that it “respectfully disagrees that there is a likelihood of confusion” and “requests that the refusal be withdrawn”.
The Daily Mail has now reported the couple decided to put an end to the battle last month when they withdrew by filing an “express abandonment” of the bid.
There were only 12 episodes of ‘Archetypes’ and drew an estimated 11 million listeners per week.
But by the 10th episode, the show had plunged to 22nd on Spotify’s US rankings.
Meghan is now being tipped to revive her Instagram account as part of a possible wellness business.
