Tres Pinos band hopes for response next month
The media attention has cooled a bit over the past few weeks, but the Tres Pinos-based band “One Direction” is still pursuing its lawsuit against the popular, Simon Cowell-managed British Band of the same name.
At issue is which boy band has the right to the name.
The local five-member band said it was formed before Cowell put his group together in 2010. Cowell’s group was slapped with a million-dollar lawsuit by the San Benito County One Direction band, which says it filed for a trademark on its name in February 2011 and claims ownership to the moniker.
The British One Direction band remains hot overseas and in the United States, with tour dates booked through 2013 in the United Kingdom. The squabble between the bands has been followed by the entertainment press, from TMZ to MTV to the “Today” show.
And while the saying goes that any publicity is good publicity, that is not necessarily the case for the local One Direction, says manager Dan O’Leary, whose 18-year-old son, Sean, is the lead singer.
“Right now it’s been tough because we’ve got one of the largest manufacturers of band merchandise that we’re signed with, but they’re putting us on the back burner because of the lawsuit,” Dan O’Leary said. “A couple of labels I’ve spoken with are saying ‘nobody at this point is going to touch you’ until we get this resolved.”
Attorneys for the local band have worked to figure out exactly who to serve with the lawsuit, with multiple record and management companies involved. O’Leary said a response to the lawsuit is due by June 21.
“Everything is up in the air because we’re not getting a response from them,” O’Leary said. “We can’t back down for the simple reason we don’t have the resources to start all over like they do. They don’t have the right to just come in and take our name because they want it. It would be much easier for them to start over.”
A month after the response is due on the lawsuit, the local One Direction band is scheduled to play at the 26th annual Street Festival and Car Show in downtown Hollister and it is working on securing other performance dates as well.
