As Sammy reported on this blog back in April, X-factor creation One Direction are being sued by USA punk group, also One Direction, for having the same name.
News has now emerged that lawyers working for Sony/Simon Cowell have filed a counter suit for the same thing. They claim that as the One Direction (USA) did not release their album until February 2011, five months after One Direction (UK) was formed on the X-factor, they are the ones copying the name. It is suggested that the widely publicised presence of One Direction (UK), acknowledged by One Direction (USA) on facebook in August 2010, should have prevented them from releasing their debut album under that name. This is despite the claim that the One Direction (USA) formed in 2009.
Legal representatives for One Direction (USA) said the response was expected and that it would not deter their clients.
If they do end up in court, I foresee a problem: referring to both parties as One Direction will be terribly confusing!
