Durek Verrett is silent on the princess title application
About a month ago, Good Evening Norway was able to reveal that Durek Verrett has an ongoing application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where he is applying for the exclusive right to use the trademark “The Princess and the Shaman”.
This in the midst of the increasingly heated debate surrounding the princess and Durek Verrett’s use of royal titles in a commercial context.
The answer from Princess Märtha Louise’s manager, Carina Scheele Carlsen, was that the application should be withdrawn.
– It is no longer appropriate for the princess to use this title.
When asked whether Princess Märtha Louise’s comment on this application is now up for consideration, she replies as follows:
– It is natural that it be withdrawn, since it is no longer relevant.
The palace supported this decision.
– It is good that the princess herself has made it clear that it is not appropriate to use this trademark, stated the head of communications at the Royal Court, Guri Varpe.
Durek Verrett chose not to answer the questions from Good Evening Norway.
At this time, the application was still awaiting a hearing at the US Patent Office. It has now been taken up for consideration, and an inquiry has been sent to Durek Verrett’s production company, Ohana Productions LLC, where they request further documentation before possibly approving or rejecting the application.
They inquire whether the titles in the trademark are linked to actual persons, and if this is the case, the person concerned is asked to send a written approval with his own signature in return.
The same was the case when in 2019 Verrett applied for, and later got approved, the trademark “Shaman Durek”.
At that time, he submitted a document in which he approved the use of his own person in the trade mark in question with his own signature.
The application has not yet been withdrawn
From an inquiry sent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office to Ohana Productions on September 29, it appears that both Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett must approve the use of their own person in the trademark “The Princess and the Shaman”.
They have not yet answered this.
Good evening Norway has this week been in contact with the USPTO, which refers to the latest public registered documents in the application processing. It appears that Durek Verrett’s company has taken no action regarding the application after the matter was first mentioned in mid-September.
Good evening Norway has tried to get answers from Durek Verrett himself, as well as manager Alexandria Alava and business manager Sam Nitter.
No one has answered our inquiries.
Attempts have also been made to get a comment from Verrett’s lawyer, Jo-Na Williams, who has submitted the application on behalf of the company.
In an exclusive interview with TV 2 in September, however, Verrett denied that he uses royal titles to sell his products and services.
– I don’t go around selling products with her (Princess Märtha Louise’s) name on them. In America she is known as Princess Märtha, and that is what people want to hear, he said.
Good evening Norway has also tried to get a comment from Princess Märtha Louise, via her manager Carina Scheele Carlsen, so far without success.
Great debate about the use of title
In 2019, it was decided that Märtha Louise should stop using the princess title in a commercial context.
On Instagram, she wrote that she understands that it is provocative when the princess title has been used in a commercial context, and that she had now decided that she would not do so in the future.
She could, however, continue to use the title when she represented the royal house, as well as in a private context. She gave up the title “Her Royal Highness” in 2002.
Princess Märtha Louise’s and Durek Verrett’s relationship has been the subject of great debate in recent years, particularly as a result of Verrett’s controversial statements.
A survey done for The online newspaper recently shows that close to six out of ten Norwegians think Princess Märtha Louise should renounce her royal titles and representative tasks.