Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are now living in Canada to be financially independent and have more private lives. However, paparazzi are still continuously disturbing the royal couple, taking their photos while hiding. Aside from this, the Sussexes are also dealing with a massive blow after their plans to trademark their brand, the Sussex Royal, got blocked.
It has been reported that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wanted to sell different items carrying their brand. They already earmarked products, like hoodies and postcards, to have their brand on. However, an Australian doctor filed a complaint, opposing the branding.
According to the documents at the Government's Intellectual Property Office, via Express, a "notice of threatened opposition" has been registered. If this pushes through, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will have to pay out a fortune to face the notice on the court system.
Charter trademark attorney and partner at specialist law firm HGF Lee Curtis explained that filing a notice of threatened opposition is easy and could be done online for free. However, the filing of a formal notice of objection is "much more involved."
"Right now, the threatened opposition delays the progress of the Sussex Royal application by at least one month," he said. "But if a formal opposition is ultimately mounted, this will involve the payment of an opposition fee." It will also include the payment of the "drafting of formal grounds of opposition and the filing of evidence and legal submissions in support of the opposition."
It may take at least a year for the whole position to craft a decision. A spokeswoman for the Intellectual Property Office, on the other hand, said that they couldn't discuss the specifics about the trademark applications as it is still in progress.
Meanwhile, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle warned the media over the use of the duchess' photographs near their seaside bolthole, per Yahoo News. The two are temporarily living at a luxury house outside Victoria on Vancouver Island after spending six weeks there for their Christmas vacation last year with their son, baby Archie.
After revealing their struggles with media scrutiny and hitting on the press with their statements and in courts, their lawyers issued a legal warning after different publications published photos of Meghan Markle while walking her dogs with their baby. The Sun and the Daily Mail newspapers used the said photos.
The lawyers claimed that photographers hiding in bushes and spying on them took the photographs. BBC then reported that Meghan Markle didn't give her consent to use the photos. Prince Harry and his wife are now preparing to take legal action against it.
