Skip to content

Now Meghan Markle Wants To Trademark This 500 Year-Old Word

Note: This article may contain commentary or the author's opinion.

In a latest move to further alienate the Sussexes from an already very hostile public, Meghan now wants to trademark a word which has been used in the English language since the 1540s.

Meghan’s representatives made an application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office last month in a bid to prohibit the use of the word in various contexts.

If the patent is approved, companies in the entertainment industry including TV shows, podcasts, DVDs, CDs and streaming services would not be able to use the word “in the fields of cultural treatment of women and stereotypes facing women”.

According to reports, Harry and Meghan’s organization Archewell Audio put in the application to trademark the word “archetypes” because Meghan wants to use it as a title for a series of podcasts.

Audio streaming service Spotify will host the series which Meghan, 40, says in the trailer will “dissect, explore and subvert the labels that try to hold women back.

“This is how we talk about women: the words that raise our girls, and how the media reflects women back to us. 

“But where do these stereotypes come from? And how do they keep showing up and defining our lives?”, says the former actress in the series’ official trailer.

"*" indicates required fields

San Francisco considers funding reparations for slavery at $5 million per black person. Do you support this?*
This poll gives you free access to our premium politics newsletter. Unsubscribe at any time.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“This is Archetypes – the podcast where we dissect, explore and subvert the labels that try to hold women back”.

According to reports, the streaming giant paid the couple a cool $23.5 million in 2020 for the series. The deal prompted many to criticise the couple’s blatant hypocrisy and flexible morals for working with Spotify as the company was accused of spreading ‘Covid misinformation’.

This came after Harry and Meghan had vocally expressed their disgust at anyone who expressed a conflicting opinion about Covid restrictions or vaccinations.

The word “archetypes”, like many words in the English language, originally derives from ancient Greek and has been used in the English language for around 500 years.

The Oxford English Dictionary officially defines the word as “the original pattern or model from which copies are made; a prototype”.

If Harry and Meghan want to annoy everyone until they’re universally despised, then they’re doing a very good job. Outraged social media users took to Twitter.

Nile Gardiner, a foreign policy analyist said:

“The arrogance and hubris is just stunning”.

Another said:

“Maybe the arrogant Me-again can trademark the word ‘annoying’ instead?”

 

But Meghan might find she runs into some tough legal cases from other companies which have been using the word in their names or taglines, including the skincare company Archetypes which already has a trademark.

During the height of her stardom, Victoria Beckham engaged in a similar legal battle. In 2002, the former Spice Girl and fashion designer attempted to take on Petersborough United FC for using the club’s nickname ‘Posh’, a word which Victoria argued was “inexorably associated” with her.

In 2017, the Beckhams also trademarked their five-year-old daughter Harper for the use of her name in a range of products including toys, make-up and clothing.

Perhaps it will only be a matter of time before the Sussexes follow suit and ‘Brand it like Beckham’.