A US boyband called One Direction are suing Simon Cowell for $1million, claiming he “stole” their name for his smash-hit UK act.
The Californian group are also demanding a fortune from their chart-topping British namesakes over alleged copyright breaches.
But the manager of the boyband last night declared war on Simon Cowell for “stealing” his group’s name — and insisted: “We won’t be pushed around.”
The US soft rockers are suing TV mogul Cowell and his X Factor heart-throbs for a fortune, alleging copyright breaches.
They maintain they own the rights to the band name and have launched a court battle to ban it being used by UK chart sensations Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson
“The British One Direction 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.”
O’Leary, who is the dad of his group’s lead singer Sean, added: “My boy’s dreams and the dreams of the band are just as important as the dreams of Cowell’s group.”
He claimed he asked Cowell to change the name of his act BEFORE they started to tour America, where they made history by reaching No1 on the Billboard charts with their debut album.
The Sun