Dollar Financial Group, Inc. v. Brittex Financial, Inc.

132 F.4th 1363
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit·Decided March 19, 2025·No. 23-1375·Published

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

DOLLAR FINANCIAL GROUP, INC., Appellant

v.

BRITTEX FINANCIAL, INC.,

Appellee

2023-1375

Appeal from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in No. 92060888.

Decided: March 19, 2025

BRYCE J. MAYNARD, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, Alexandria, VA, argued for appellant. Also represented by BASSAM IBRAHIM, LAURA PITTS.

ROBERT L. MCRAE, Gunn, Lee & Cave, PC, San Antonio , TX, argued for appellee. Also represented by JULIE P. BELL, NICHOLAS ADAM GUINN.

Before PROST, TARANTO, and HUGHES, Circuit Judges. HUGHES, Circuit Judge.

2 DOLLAR FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. v. BRITTEX FINANCIAL, INC.

Dollar Financial Group, Inc. appeals a decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board granting in part and denying in part Brittex Financial, Inc.’s petition for cancellation of two trademark registrations. Because the Board correctly determined that DFG may not rely on the zone of natural expansion doctrine to establish priority and that there was a likelihood of confusion with respect to DFG’s recited pawn brokerage and pawn shop services, we affirm.

I

DFG has operated loan financing and check cashing businesses since the 1980s under the name MONEY MART. DFG owns two trademarks for the use of the MONEY MART mark in connection with these businesses and alleges a first use of these marks in 1984. 1 In 2010, DFG began “taking steps” to expand its business offerings “at certain MONEY MART retail stores” to include pawn brokerage and pawn shop services. Appellant’s Br. 3. DFG began using the mark in commerce in connection with these services in 2012. J.A. 13.

In 2013, DFG registered two marks, U.S. Registration Nos. 4,524,540 and 4,532,073. Brittex Fin., Inc. v. Dollar Fin. Grp., Inc., Cancellation No. 92060888 (T.T.A.B. Nov. 4, 2022); J.A. 1–2, 63 nn.1–2. These Registrations listed “pawn brokerage and pawn shops” among the covered services. The ’540 Registration covers the standard

1 DFG’s two registered trademarks are U.S. Registration No. 3,206,120 (“MONEY MART” mark used in connection with “loan financing”) and U.S. Registration No. 2,244,158 (“MONEY MART” mark used in connection with “check cashing and electronic funds transfer services, but not including extensions of credit except to the extent evidenced by a check”). J.A. 3391–92 (’120 Registration) (capitalized in original); J.A. 3450–51 (’158 Registration) (capitalized in original).

DOLLAR FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. v. BRITTEX FINANCIAL, INC. 3

characters “MONEY MART,” and the ’073 Registration covers a design mark featuring the same text. The applications were registered in 2014.

Brittex petitioned to cancel the Registrations on several grounds, including that the Registrations were improperly issued in violation of Lanham Act § 2(d), see J.A. 2, 538, which bars registration on the Principal Register of a mark that “so resembles . . . a mark or trade name previously used in the United States by another and not abandoned, as to be likely, when used on or in connection with the goods of the applicant, to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive.” 15 U.S.C. § 1052(d). Since the 1990s, Brittex Financial, Inc. or its predecessor in interest , Pawn Management, Inc., (collectively, Brittex) has operated pawn shops throughout Texas under the names “MONEY MART PAWN” and “MONEY MART PAWN & JEWELRY.” Brittex has never registered its mark, but it has common law rights in the mark. Brittex argued to the Board that its use of MONEY MART (as part of its longer marks) for pawn brokerage and pawn shop services had priority over DFG’s use and that DFG’s use of the MONEY MART marks would likely cause confusion.

The Board denied the petition to cancel. Brittex Fin., Inc. v. Dollar Fin. Grp., Inc., Cancellation No. 92060888 (T.T.A.B. Sep. 30, 2020); J.A. 82. The Board concluded that DFG had priority to the MONEY MART mark because it had used the mark in connection with loan financing services since the 1980s, and loan financing services encompasspawn services. J.A. 102–03. Because Brittex did not provide pawn services until 1993, the Board concluded that Brittex failed to establish priority and could not prevail in its cancellation petition.

Brittex appealed, and we reversed the denial of the petition and remanded for further proceedings. Brittex Fin., Inc. v. Dollar Fin. Grp., Inc., Nos. 2021-1370, 2021-1449, 2021 WL 5504880 at *6 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 24, 2021). We 4 DOLLAR FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. v. BRITTEX FINANCIAL, INC.

concluded that the Board’s reasoning for rejecting Brittex’s priority argument was erroneous because “[t]he evidence makes clear that pawn brokerage and pawn shop services integrate two different components, only one of which can be labeled ‘loan financing’—the lending, but not the retail sale of collateral.” Id. at *4. Therefore, to the extent the Board found that pawn services are covered by loan financing services, that finding was unsupported by substantial evidence. We reversed and remanded because “the Board’s basis for rejecting Brittex’s priority . . . [could not] stand.” Id.

On remand, the Board held that Brittex had priority because it was “clearly the first to offer pawn brokerage and pawn shop services under [its] mark[]” because Brittex had been using the mark MONEY MART PAWN or MONEY MART PAWN & JEWELRY in connection with pawn services since 1993, while DFG had only used the MONEY MART mark in connection with pawn brokerage and pawn store services since 2012. J.A. 12–13. The Board also concluded that DFG could not rely on the zone of natural expansion doctrine to claim priority because the doctrine is purely defensive. The Board then determined that the relevant DuPont factors, which are used to assess the likelihood of confusion between two trademarks, heavily favored a finding of likelihood of confusion because the marks are highly similar and because the “parties’ pawn services are overlapping and move through normal trade channels to the same classes of consumers.” J.A. 32–33. The Board accordingly partially granted the petition for cancellation and required “[p]awn brokerage and pawn shops” be deleted from Registration Nos. 4,524,540 and 4,532,073. J.A. 41.

DFG appeals the Board’s partial grant of the petition for cancellation. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(4)(B).

DOLLAR FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. v. BRITTEX FINANCIAL, INC. 5

II

“We review the [B]oard’s legal conclusions de novo, and its findings of fact for substantial evidence.” M2 Software, Inc. v. M2 Commc’ns, Inc., 450 F.3d 1378, 1382 (Fed. Cir. 2006) (quoting Shen Mfg. Co. v. Ritz Hotel Ltd., 393 F.3d 1238, 1240 (Fed. Cir. 2004)). Substantial evidence is “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Consol. Edison Co. of N.Y. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197, 229 (1938).

“The Board’s determination of priority is a question of fact reviewed for substantial evidence.” Araujo v. Framboise Holdings Inc., 99 F.4th 1377, 1380 (Fed. Cir. 2024). “Likelihood of confusion is a question of law, based on findings of relevant underlying facts, namely findings under the DuPont factors”; we review the DuPont factors for substantial evidence. M2 Software, 450 F.3d at 1381; Bose Corp. v. QSC Audio Prods., Inc., 293 F.3d 1367, 1370 (Fed. Cir. 2002).

III

On appeal, DFG asserts that the Board improperly understood our decision in Brittex to conclusively resolve the issue of priority. DFG also argues the Board erred in refusing to allow DFG to rely on the zone of natural expansion doctrine or, alternatively, to invoke the doctrine of tacking. DFG further argues that the Board’s conclusion that there was a likelihood of confusion between the marks was erroneous . We address each issue in turn.

A

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Dollar Financial Group, Inc. v. Brittex Financial, Inc., 132 F.4th 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2025).

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