In Dyson Ltd v Qualtex [2004], Dyson brought proceedings against the defendant, Qualtex, a manufacturer of vacuum cleaner spare parts, alleging infringement of its unregistered design rights in various spare parts comprising different products. Unregistered design rights are unregistrable intellectual property rights that arise automatically by the operation of law and protect the owners of original designs from, amongst other things, unauthorised copying. The existence of such rights is subject.