You may have noticed one particular “boy band” on television a lot lately. Although the term “boy band” came into wide use in the 1990s, with the emergence of groups like nSync, No Mercy, and New Edition, one could argue that earlier singing groups, like The Osmonds and The Jackson Five were boy bands too. But we digress from the a trademark story that emerged this week …
Some of you may be aware that music producer Simon Cowell (of ‘American Idol’ and ‘The X Factor’ fame) is credited with managing several British boy bands in recent years, including Five and Westlife. Cowell’s latest boy band, One Direction, placed third on ‘The X Factor’ and has seen a lot of success with its debut album, ‘Up All Night.’
This week, news hit that there already is a group called One Direction — in California — and there is a trademark registration for the band’s name that was filed in 2011. Here’s a copy of the U.S. trademark record for One Direction from Corsearch® Advantage™:
Lawyers for the American One Direction filed a trademark infringement suit in a California court. The court filing claims that the UK band knew about the US trademark registration but proceeded with the name anyway. The American group is seeking an injunction to stop the UK band from using the One Direction name, along with a share of the group’s profits. A spokesman for Cowell’s company said that they had “ tried to resolve the situation amicably when the matter first came to light” and “now have no choice but to defend the lawsuit and the band’s right to use their name.”
Court papers also note that the American group has been using the name since 2009 and that it has recorded two albums.
Do you have a favorite “boy band”?
{ 1 trackback }