Media mogul Simon Cowell is taking legal action against One Direction US, saying the band is trying to ride on the back of the success of the British group.

Earlier this year, the punk band One Direction US sued Cowell's label Syco for $1 million, claiming they chose the name first.

The American band say their album, The Light, was released in February 2011, more than a year before One Direction launched their debut album Up All Night, in the US.

But Cowell has hit back, arguing his band would be more likely to miss out on revenue due to the name confusion, and that clips of the group's appearances on The X Factor had been shown worldwide as early as September 2010.