Qualtex for copyright and unregistered design right infringement, for creating and selling deliberate imitations of Dyson's original vacuum cleaner parts. Dyson was seeking to prevent the sale of spare parts made by Qualtex to fit and match Dyson vacuum cleaners. The Qualtex parts in question were intended to resemble closely the Dyson spares, not least as they were visible in the normal use of the vacuum cleaners. The Chinese manufacturer that produced certain parts for Qualtex was found to have copied the visual design of some of Dyson's spare parts. Following the victory, £100,000 was donated to the Royal College of Art to help young designers protect their designs. Samsung In August 2013, Dyson sued Samsung Electronics over claims his company's steering technology was infringed. The product that was targeted, Samsung's "Motion Sync", allegedly infringed the design of a steering mechanism for cylinder cleaners, patented by Dyson in 2009. It describes a way to allow a vacuum cleaner to spin quickly from one direction to another on the spot, and to follow the user's path rather than just being dragged behind, in order to prevent the vacuum getting snagged on corners. But three months after it filed the lawsuit, Dyson voluntarily dropped the litigation as Samsung presented prior art, which it maintained belonged to Samsung. Samsung filed a counter suit for £6 million for compensation for hurting Samsung's corporate image. SharkNinja In 2014, Dyson sued SharkNinja for patent infringement, but after four years courts ruled the patents had not been infringed. Vax In 2010, Dyson launched legal action against rival manufacturer Vax, claiming the design of its Mach Zen vacuum cleaner is an infringement of the registered design of its first "bagless" Dyson cylinder vacuum DC02, which dates back to 1994. Dyson also claimed the Chinese-owned rival had "flagrantly copied" Dyson's iconic design. However, the court backed an earlier decision which rejected Dyson's claims, as the two designs did not produce "the same overall impression" on the informed user. The courts held that the two cleaners were "different designs", the Dyson cleaner being "smooth, curving and elegant", the Vax cleaner being "rugged, angular and industrial". Controversies Criticisms regarding foreign students In March 2011, James Dyson reportedly said in an interview for The Sunday Times that British universities were allowing Chinese nationals to study engineering and spy on the departments where they were working, enabling them to take technology back to