A Californian group named ‘One Direction’ have brought legal action against Simon Cowell’s company Syco and Sony entertainment for $1 million (£630,000) in damages, compensation for profits gained by the UK One direction on their tour in America and an injunction to prevent the use of the band name ‘One Direction’ for trademark infringement.
The US group claim that they have used the name since November 2009 which is a year before the UK band was formed on the X Factor television show. The US group maintain their argument that they hold the rights to the band name and have launched a court battle to prevent it from being used.
The trademark was allegedly filed at the US patents office in 2009. The US band Manager Dan O’Leary informed Simon Cowell of the trademark application before the UK band toured America, the warning was ultimately ignored. However, The US band holds pitiful sales on iTunes compared to the UK band and only plays for charity and bar gigs. UK One Direction recently sold out Madison Square Garden, New York and has been compared to the Beatles.
O’Leary commented “To Zayn, Harry, Niall, Liam, Louis, we wish you all well, and many years of success. There should be plenty of room for both bands to grow and thrive. We hope that this dispute will be resolved soon, and then all of us can focus on what we do best — making music.”
The rights to integrity and credit are moral rights in music.
In music copyright discussions, the focus is usually on economic rights—who can distribute, copy, or profit from a song. However, another facet of copyright law
