KABC-AM Talks a Good Game Before Court

In the latest round of radio moniker wars, a federal court judge has ruled that talk radio is not a generic term and that KABC-AM (790) has a right to use it as an identifying slogan while rival talk station KFI-AM (640) does not.

In an order handed down late Friday but not received by the stations’ attorneys until Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Gadbois ruled against talk station KFI-AM (640), which had claimed that the term was generic. The judge’s decision upheld a May ruling that enjoined KFI from using the term talk radio in conjunction with its call letters and dial position.

“KABC has offered evidence that listeners in the Los Angeles AM radio market primarily associate talk radio with KABC, not with a program format,” Gadbois wrote. “This evidence is sufficient such that a reasonable fact finder could find that talk radio is not a generic term.”

“All of us are delighted with the decision,” KABC attorney Steven M. Perry said Monday. “This concludes the litigation at the trial court level.”

KFI attorneys said they probably will appeal the decision.

KABC filed a trademark infringement suit against KFI in April, saying that it had the sole right to use the talk radio label in Los Angeles.

In court papers, KABC said it adopted its all-talk format in 1960 and, in 1972, “invented and adopted the trademark and trade name ‘KABC Talk Radio.’ ” The suit said KABC was the only station to use the term for 17 years until KFI began using the slogan in March, 1989.

The two stations argued in federal court Sept. 28 before Gadbois.