Fear not Directioners, you won’t need to get the Tipp-Ex on all those lovely posters you’ve made after all, because One Direction are allowed to keep their name.
Yes, shockingly, the world-famous XFactor-created UK boyband have beaten an American five-piece band that no-one had ever heard of to the rights to be called One Direction, it’s been announced today.
The US punk group claimed earlier this year they had called themselves One Direction first and sued the British boy band for £630,000 (that’s $1million) in damages and asked for a share of the X Factor band’s royalties.
Things all got a bit nasty when the US group said they’d received hate mail and death threats from fans of the UK group. Then Simon Cowell’s entertainment company, Syco, put in a counter-claim suggesting the US band were trying to make money from their success. The success of the UK group that is. Sorry, it’s all very complicated.
Unchartered Shores, the artists formerly known as One Direction
Both Harry Styles and Zayn Malik had spoken out in interviews to assure fans the UK band would not be changing its name.
And now, to make things clearer, both groups have now issued a press release announcing the American band’s name will be changed to Unchartered Shores and that both groups were happy with the outcome.
We can't help but feel Unchartered Shores have missed a trick - let us know what you think they should've called themselves below.
We totally would’ve gone with Wand Erection…