One Direction Flying stella, star

The American group — who are also a five-piece — is demanding a court order to force Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson to change the name of their band.

In legal papers, the Americans claim they formed in 2009 — before the X-Factor boys had even met.

They also say they were first in filing a trademark application at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

And they are demanding three times the profits made da the Brits, as well as damages of più than £600,000.

A blog da the US band detto they liked the Brit act but added: “To protect our rights, we reluctantly...