THE House of Lords has refused Hoover leave to appeal against the ruling that it infringed a key Dyson patent.

A decision on damages, which Hoover will have to pay to Dyson, will not be made until next October.

On October 4, the Court of Appeal in London upheld a ruling that Hoover unlawfully copied Dyson's top-selling Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaners. A year earlier, James Dyson, whose headquarters are at Tetbury Hill, Malmesbury, won an 18-month legal battle against Hoover. He claimed Hoover had copied his design when it brought out its own bagless Triple Vortex range.