One Direction Fans: Know Your Enemy!
Introducing, the US band with the nerve to challenge SyCo and ask for a ridiculously large pay-out for someone more famous than them "stealing" their name.
The world was taken over a couple of days ago when news emerged that a Californian band, formed in 2009 were set to sue XFactor alumnus One Direction for substantial damages over their use of the same name. Well, I say the world - I really mean the legion of teenage fans the band have gathered in startlingly quick fashion since not winning the televised "talent" competition back in 2010 (a full year, incidentally, before their Californian counterparts tried to register the One Direction trademark). But what do we know about these American interlopers, who have the audacity to challenge the might of SyCo, and ask for an astonishing million dollar payment because they have suffered "substantial confusion and substantial damage" due to the presence of a teenage band from the UK who are already vastly more popular than they could ever have imagined? Well, not a lot, but in the interest of knowing your enemy, we thought we'd try and offer a portrait of the most famous not-famous band in the world in the past couple of days. First off, here's what they look like... 
Some mighty fine pocket and scowl work there. And what do they sound like? Surely, if they are pressing ahead with their claim for damages, and the rights to solely use the name One Direction, they must have some confidence in their music, and their ability to sustain a brand beyond the point they win their battle. Well, judge for yourself, here's the music video for their single "2012": http://youtu.be/W1LKlY_1gYM No matter what you think of their music (far too much sneaky auto tuning going on for me), you have to feel some pity for the group, given how much venom is being directed towards them from the self-styled 1D Army who are currently defying absolutely no expectations by attacking the band on every level. Surely, there has to be some mature One Direction fans out there who can objectively appraise the Californians slightly better than some of the youtube comments on the video above. Personally, I'd love this all to be a joke: a prank set-up by some shady and opportunist American music mogul to bring some much needed global exposure to the American five piece. Because, one thing that is certain is that the Californians will have picked up masses of free publicity on the back of their lawsuit. Whether they will emerge victorious remains to be seen.