British boy band One Direction is being sued by a lesser known American band, also called One Direction. (WTF?) The band of 5 are demanding a court order to force Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson to change the name of their band!
The US One Direction just filed the lawsuit, claiming they formed in 2009. This is an entire year before the UK band members even knew each other. In addition to building a reputation around the name, the American One Direction claim they also beat the Brits to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office -- filing a trademark application for "One Direction" long before the UK boy band.
Now the Americans are asking for a court order, requiring the Brits to change their name.
The Americans are also suing Simon Cowell's record label and Sony Music -- demanding more than $1 million in damages.
The group said their rivals had known about their claim to the name since the spring of 2011. The US band said: “They chose not to use a different name. They chose to press ahead, using the exact same name, One Direction, setting up the current difficulties and confusion.”
The British band’s reps have yet to respond to the lawsuit. It is not the first time one of Simon Cowell’s X Factor bands has run into trouble over a name. Last year’s show winners Rhythmix had to change their name to Little Mix, because Rhythmix was also the name of a Brighton-based charity.
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