Cowell turns happy ending into horrible hanging threat

Remember Rhythmix, the charity whose name Simon Cowell tried to bully-off them? Cowell was attempting to use the name for one of the bands on The X Factor and tried to steal the trademark.

But the band "decided" to change their name, right? So everything turned out okay?

Not quite, for as Cowell perseveres with the Pop Idol format long after the market has been saturated, so he pursues his vendettas. Rhytmix are still in trouble:

Unfortunately, whilst your company Simco and your programme The X Factor have managed to stage a PR event publicly changing the name of your contestants, actually the legal position hasn't changed at all, and neither has the outcome for the Charity.

Cowell's team aren't responding to any letters:

Why won't they respond? Because the legal advice is that the Charity cannot afford to pursue Simco through the courts, so the best way to "win" this matter is to not deal with it and wait for the Charity's money to run out.

Bluntly, that legal advice is correct. This Charity isn't prepared to spend thousands of pounds forcing Simco to "do the right thing". We won't be sending you any more legal letters. We won't be asking Simco any more times not to take our identity. We won't write any more letters to you or to Simco asking that you or they cover the unjustified legal costs they have forced upon the Charity.

They've already had to spend £8000 on legal fees so far; to Cowell that's - what? - a pair of laces for one of his shoes' to Rhythmix, it's "120 hours of music making and social interaction for vulnerable young people that benefit from the Charity's work."

You can help: Rhythmix are trying to raise some money, and you might want to have a word with X-Factor sponsors TalkTalk and ask them what they think of it. TalkTalk are also on Twitter, so you might try there, too.

Rhythmix work with young people in the South-East who find themselves in trouble. It's unlikely they'd have turned their backs on Brighton's Frankie Cocozza.