The dispute over the moniker similarity is taken to the court after a negotiation between the U.K. band and the U.S. group met dead end.
- Apr 11, 2012
AceShowbiz - One Direction's invasion in the United States is marred by a lawsuit demanding them to change their moniker. The British boyband, who claimed their fame after participating on the seventh season of "The X Factor", are sued by a U.S.-based group of the same name who claimed they were formed in 2009, a year before the U.K. band got together.
The U.S. One Direction took a legal action to settle the dispute over the moniker similarity after their attempted negotiation with the camp from the "What Makes You Beautiful" hitmakers met dead end. "We've been in negotiations for a month to find a resolution," attorney Peter Ross told THR. "In our view, the negotiations weren't turning out to be very productive."
The U.K. boyband, who are signed to Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment, reportedly have been informed that there's another group of the same name when they attempted to file an application with the U.S. Trademark Office. "Rather than change their name or do anything to create confusion or avoid damage to our goodwill, they chose to press ahead and come on their tour," Ross claimed.
As an example for the confusion, the plaintiffs mentioned an incident on "Today" show where the British band were introduced using a wrong backsound of music from the U.S. band. The song is titled "2012", and has been viewed by more than 100,000 people on YouTube. Some of the viewers, however, left nasty comments supposedly because they found that the material is not something they expect to see or hear.
U.K. One Direction consist of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. They became the first British group to top Billboard Hot 200, thanks to their debut album "Up All Night". They additionally busted Hot 100 with its single "What Makes You Beautiful" and recently performed on "Saturday Night Live".
As for U.S. One Direction, they comprise of lead singer Sean O'Leary, guitarist Isaiah Chavez-Pickett, bassist Scott Nagareda and drummer Adam Davis. They have released an album called "The Light" on iTunes since February 2011. For more info about them and their music, fans can visit their official website.
