Research | Copyright | Trademark

One Direction Sony Music 

Taking care of the business side of your artistry can seem overwhelming and be a daunting task, and we have all heard the warnings to copyright your material, trademark your name and logo while doing your due diligence. It seems that even professionals do not always heed to this advice.

Simon Cowell’s record label home to the UK’s superstar boy band One Direction, has been named in a million dollar lawsuit over the boy band’s name. It seem that the name One Direction already belongs to another US band and has already caused some confusion as it did on NBC’s Today when the UK boy band was shown with accompanied music from the US One Direction band. The US One Direction band has been selling their album on iTunes since February 2011, after the American band One Direction posted their song “2012” to YouTube receiving over 100,000 views but negative post from viewers who landed on their video while expecting to see the UK boy band, they have made quite a case for consumer confusion. The US band is not signed to a record label but has held the name and has been selling records under the name for a longer period of time leaving the new British invasion open to loosing their name.

The UK band’s label was made aware of the US bands claim to the name when they filed an application with the US Trademark offices and the matter is now before the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board. This is just another example of the importance of doing your due diligence before embarking on your business endeavor, whether it is music, entertainment, or any other business venture. With the success of your company, the more scrutiny you could come by and an issue such as a name, which you work so hard, to build up could be taken away from you when this could easily be avoided during the startup phase of your company.