One Direction fans send hate mail to US One Direction

One Direction fans have been sending aggressive hate mail to the US band of the same name.

The Californian five-piece have faced an angry backlash over their copyright breach lawsuit against the 'What Makes You Beautiful' hitmakers and are appalled by some of the messages they have received.

Singer Sean O'Leary - whose father Dan manages the band - told The Sun: "There has been so much hate mail, like people threatening to cut our b***s off.

"The one that stands out for me is a girl saying she wanted to kill my father."

The US band have filed a copyright infringement claim in California, seeking three times the profits earned by the UK based band and $1 million compensation because they insist they own the rights to the name One Direction in America.

Their lawsuit claims the UK group's record companies were aware of the fact the two bands had the same name as early as 2011 but chose to ignore this fact.

Meanwhile, the British One Direction - who shot to fame after coming second on UK reality TV show 'The X Factor' in 2010 - have announced a string of arena shows in North America for 2013.

The 30-date tour kicks off in Ft. Lauderdale on June 13 and ends in Los Angeles on August 7.

Revealing the plans, singer Liam Payne said: "We're about to announce a bigger tour and more dates in 2013, so that's the big announcement.

"I said on twitter the other day that there was going to be some big news and that's the big news. You guys will be seeing us live across America in 2013 in a big arena tour. So woo-hoo!"