Simon Cowell donates £20,000 to Rhythmix to cover its legal costs

Governance | Vibeka Mair | 21 Nov 2011

X Factor mogul Simon Cowell has temporarily abandoned his “Mr Nasty” tag and agreed to donate a reported £20,000 to Rhythmix, a charity which had been battling the producers of X Factor over the trademark of its name.

Cowell’s company Syco was in a dispute with the music and youth charity Rhythmix over the rights to the name after a girl group on the current X Factor series took the moniker.

The girl group eventually dropped the name, after a series of campaigns in support of the charity on Facebook and Twitter. But the charity was left with around £8,000 in legal costs due to the row, and asked Syco to cover the bill.

Last Thursday, Rhythmix raised awareness of its plight with a Twitter campaign and a viral video featuring an animated Cowell which had been voiced by impressionist Alistair McGowan.

On Friday, a statement on behalf of Syco and Rhythmix said the matter had been "positively resolved".

It added that Syco had been "happy to make a donation to the charity and withdraw the application for the trademark".
The Daily Mail reports that the donation is believed to be £20,000.

Publicity about the issues had already brought in around £4,000 in donations from the public.

The Brighton-based charity, which has been operating in Kent, Surrey and Sussex for ten years, helps disabled and vulnerable young people through music.

The charity's chief executive Mark Davyd said: "We are very pleased this has been brought to an amicable conclusion."

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