Zone of natural expansion is defensive in nature, US Federal Circuit says
( March 19, 2025, 19:54 GMT | Official Statement) -- MLex Summary: In a precedential holding, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld findings by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board that Dollar Financial Group can't seek refuge in the zone of natural expansion doctrine to establish its priority to the “MONEY MART” trademark for pawn brokerage and pawn shop services, and that consumers would likely be confused by that use and Brittex Financial’s common law “MONEY MART PAWN” and “MONEY MART PAWN & JEWELRY” trademarks. US Circuit Judge Todd Hughes, writing for the panel, clarified that the doctrine “only allows a senior user to prevent junior users from registering similar marks on related lines of goods but does not confer the senior user a proactive right to register a mark.” Thus, Hughes ruled, “DFG cannot use the zone of natural expansion doctrine offensively to defeat Brittex’s intervening rights.” The panel further found that DFG’s assertion that under the doctrine of tacking, it was entitled to use “MONEY MART” in connection with pawn services forfeited, and said it found no error in the TTAB’s analysis of the likelihood of confusion.See attached document....
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