One Direction, that is, the boy band that is famous and quickly becoming every teenage girls dream, is being sued by One Direction, a less common, local California boy band who may have hit the big time by suing their UK counterparts. It appears that this is the most success they've ever enjoyed!
The U.S. band is demanding relief in the form of a name change, and more than $1 million in damages. I guess they will claim that the UK band harmed them by making it difficult for them to succeed. Though a name change could be accommodated by a court, damages do seem unlikely since the U.S. band was around longer. That fact actually hurts their case. Since they were around longer, apparently more than a year, and were unable to find any semblance of success, and were in a different country all together, it is unlikely they were actually harmed, but who knows. In legal papers, the U.S. band claims to have formed in 2009 before the X-Factor boys had even met.
The U.S. band filed their trademark applications before the UK boys, which is why it seems imminent that a name change may occur, or maybe Simon Cowell will just pay them for the name, so the U.S. band may have some strength to their case in this respect.
The funny thing about this whole thing is the U.S. band's blog. On it, they wrote that they liked the UK band but, “To protect our rights, we reluctantly have filed a lawsuit.” If this were true, and they were reluctant, there would be no need for damages, declaratory judgment or an injunction would be enough. Clearly, however, this will be the biggest pay day the U.S. band will ever see, if successful.
They also added, “Despite our best efforts, we were unable to negotiate a reasonable compromise with the handlers for the band.”
“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 in the United States.”(Confusion....really?)
“The British boy band is well funded and high profile. They have Mr Cowell’s enormous resources behind them. We on the other hand do not."
“In our view, we were here first. We have rights. We have talent, and we have heart. We are standing up for all of the above. Not having money does not take away your rights or make you ’less than’.”
Perhaps the funniest part of this whole thing is their iTunes page where a customer was legitimately confused writing, "NOT X FACTOR 1D!!...I thought this was the british 1D from xfactor 2010 dang it."
This was followed by another post that reads, 'THIS IS SOOOO AWESOME!!!', "I originally thought this was the UK One Direction, but then i got to listen, and i realized this wasnt. these guys are really great as well! i would definatly buy this album! these guys deserve it!"
Upon further inspection however, we find that the author of this post is none other than the U.S.' bands lead singer and pianist, Sean O'Leary.
Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson have yet to respond to the lawsuit.
One Direction And Simon Cowell Sued By...One Direction?
4/11/2012 10:38:30 AM
