In June 2019, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex filed to register their charity brand with the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO).
Shortly after, on January 19th , it was confirmed that the couple will no longer be retaining their ‘Royal Highness’ titles and will now become entirely financially independent. With this announcement questions were raised as to whether the couple can keep their ‘Sussex Royal’ brand and pending trade mark applications with the UKIPO and EUIPO.
According to the UKIPO, the couple’s ‘Sussex Royal’ application has now received a total of 14 Notice of Threatened Oppositions (also known as TM7A’s). This resulted in the applications’ publication period in being extended for an additional month during which, any of the opposing parties could have filed for what is known as a ‘Notice of Opposition’. However the chances of any of the TM7A’s proceeding to formal opposition seem more than unlikely as the couple have recently released the following statement on their shared website:
“The trademark applications that had been filed as protective measures and that reflected the same standard trademarking requests as done for The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have been removed”.
Other Posts on the official website suggest the couple will end their lives as working royals as of March 31st, 2020.
If you have any questions relating to this article or the trade mark application process, contact us today.
Sena Tokel
