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Kiis FM reaches confidential agreement with Melbourne music station Kiss

Kiss FM MelbourneKiisMelbourne music station Kiss FM has dropped the fight for its name with the Australian Radio Network over its rebranded Kiis station in Sydney following a settlement between the pair.

When ARN rebranded its Sydney station Mix 106.5 as Kiis 1065 late last year Kiss FM manager Timmy Byrne threatened the network with a legal letter calling on the network to cease and desist from using the name, as he said it infringed on its property rights, despite the difference in spelling.

This afternoon Byrne and the ARN have announced a deal has been reached, but are not releasing the details.

“ARN’s new station KIIS 1065 will mutually coexist with Kiss FM in Australia and the matter is now resolved,” Byrne and ARN said in a statement this afternoon.

The legal stoush started last year when Byrne’s lawyers sent a legal letter to ARN saying: “Should your company continue with the Kiis/Kiss rebrand, our clients hereby put you on notice that you will be infringing its various intellectual property rights in the Kiss brand.

“Should your company’s conduct infringe our clients’ common law and/or registered rights in the Kiss trade marks, our clients hereby put you on notice that it will be forced to issue legal proceedings against you and/or your company in order to protect their rights.”

Byrne maintains Kiss FM Dance Music Australia is the first and longest dance music radio station in the country.

“It will continue to draw on its rich heritage of support from Australia’s dance music culture and community and looks forward to being the vanguard of Australia’s many talented DJs, producers and electronic artists,” he said.

The agreement was announced as ARN launched a new marketing campaign for Mix 101.1 in Melbourne and Brisbane’s 97.3FM with an outdoor campaign across both markets.

Megan Reynolds

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