Simon Cowell's Label Sued Over the Rights to One Direction's Name

While One Direction may be the hottest band in pop music right now, there's one group who's not too happy with the new "British Invasion": another U.S. band already called One Direction.

The American band has sued Sony Music and Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment for $1 million, charging that the British boy band is confusing fans and ruining the band's credibility. Proof of confusion NBC's Today accidentally used music from the U.S. band when the British group was shown.

Simon Cowell formed the British group after the bands' members, which include Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan, performed well on the U.K. The X Factor. However, this was well after the U.S. band started selling its album, The Light, on iTunes.

The U.S. band's attorney maintains that Cowell and comapny were already aware of the discrepancy after attempting to file an application with the U.S. Trademark Office.

However, the confusion hasn't been completely detrimental on the American One Direction. Their song "2012" has been viewed more than 100,000 times on YouTube and iTunes sales have risen. 

Cowell's One Direction recently topped the Billboard 200 with their album Up All Night and performed on Saturday Night Live. So far, Cowell and One Direction have not responding to any media requests for comment.