Simon Cowell toasts One Direction at MTV awards

One Direction will be able to keep their name after settling a legal battle. Photo / AP

Simon Cowell gifted One Direction with bottles of champagne for their wins at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards.

The British X Factor 2010 contestants were each given a bottle of champagne by their record label boss at the Los Angeles event, despite being under the state of California's minimum drinking age of 21.

The band won prizes Best New Artist, plus Best Pop Video and Most Share-worthy Video for their track 'What Makes You Beautiful'.

Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne - who performed One Thing during the ceremony - beat rivals The Wanted, Justin Bieber and Rihanna to the accolade.

The band collected their second gong from singer Katy Perry.

Harry described the moment as "incredible" when receiving the statue.

He said to the crowd at the Staples Center: "To win one Moonman is amazing, to win two is incredible."

Simon later ordered the boys to throw a party in celebration of their achievements in America via the micro-blogging website Twitter.

The SyCo boss tweeted on his account: "Congratulations 1D. I'm very proud of you. Celebrate!"

-BANG Showbiz!