Hoover Vortex cleaners banned

Manufacturer Hoover European Appliance Group will not be allowed to sell or make any more of its Triple Vortex vacuum cleaners within the UK, after the High Court granted rival Dyson Appliances an order banning it.

This follows the High Court’s ruling at the beginning of October which found Hoover guilty of deliberately copying a fundamental part of the Dyson Dual Cyclone vacuum cleaner (DW 6 October).

Interim costs of £200 000 have been awarded to Dyson Appliances while damages caused by the patent infringement are assessed. A decision on the use of the trademark Vortex has yet to be made.

In a statement, a Dyson spokeswoman says, “We are pleased about the judge’s decision. It is only right that a product which copies someone else’s technology cannot be sold any more.”

– As Design Week went to press Dyson Appliances founder James Dyson was due to give the Lord Lloyd of Kilgerran Prize Lecture in London, after being honoured by the Foundation for Science and Technology. The prize is awarded annually for the application of science and technology for the benefit of society.

Dyson was expected to discuss the decline in manufacturing, the lack of funding for research and development and why young people are turning away from a career in engineering and manufacturing. The prize carries with it £2000, which Dyson has given to the Women’s Engineering Society.