But there's a problem. Another U.S. band already calls itself One Direction.
Cowell's record label, Syco Entertainment, and Sony Music have just been hit with a $1 million lawsuit that says that One Direction (U.K.) can't navigate itself into U.S. jurisdiction without causing consumer confusion and destroying the goodwill of the U.S.-based doppelgänger.
The American band posted a song, "2012," on YouTube, and it's been viewed more than 100,000 times. In addition, "2012" has been selling nicely on iTunes. Part of the success of One Direction's (U.S.) song could be attributed to consumers who stumbled on the song after searching for the more popular act. Ross also says that NBC's "Today Show" mistakenly played "2012" when introducing the hot UK act.
Proving harm could be an entirely different issue in the coming case, though.
The American group might be the beneficiary of attention they wouldn't have ordinarily have gotten -- for better or worse. On one hand, sales have been nice. On the other, some commentators on YouTube have left nasty comments, perhaps after seeing and hearing something they weren't expected. Ross says it shows that the goodwill of his client's trademark is being denigrated.
