Posted by wi guy on June 03, 2015 at 17:05:56:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Scripps vs Magnum posted by Country Boy on June 03, 2015 at 13:55:09:
hmm, i thought cc had it earlier and in more markets in 1998. wxss flipped in 1998. i believe what happened is that cc let sinclair be without going after them, because they were small and plus cc had JUST won their court case for kiss. but entercom also had a kiss in boston and other places, so they went after them, being another big dog. they ended up settling out of court and the agreement i mentioned in my other post came to fruition. cc let them use kiss here, entercom let them use one of their tms in other markets. im not claiming to be completely right on all of this, but i think i have the jist of it! correct me if im wrong. :)
heres a story from the biz journal at the time...
>>In 1998, Clear Channel registered a federal service mark for "Kiss FM," despite the fact that other companies already operated stations called "Kiss." While Clear Channel owns about 50 stations called "Kiss FM," other group owners account for only a few called "Kiss," said Scott Zolke, a Los Angeles attorney for Clear Channel.
After a federal court ruling in May in Southern California, Clear Channel believes it can claim rights to the "Kiss" name going back to the 1980s and predating the nickname's use in markets like Milwaukee, Zolke said.
Elsewhere, Clear Channel has succeeded without going to court.
In Chicago, Clear Channel won an out-of-court victory in January against Big City Radio Inc., which had been calling two of its suburban stations "Kiss FM." Big City agreed to drop the "Kiss" name, and Clear Channel switched its "jammin' hits" station in Chicago to "Kiss 103.5."
Clear Channel also extracted an informal settlement out of the Milwaukee-based Journal Broadcast Group at Journal's Omaha, Neb., operations in January. Journal Broadcast agreed to change its country station "Kiss 94.1" to "94.1 Max Country" to avoid costly litigation with Clear Channel.