Dyson has settled a dispute over its bagless vacuum cleaner by accepting a �4m ($6.3m) damages offer from its rival Hoover.

It follows a High Court ruling two years ago that Hoover's Triple Vortex cleaner infringed Dyson's patent for its Dual Cyclone vacuum cleaner.

Dyson said it settlement was bigger than any previous court award in British patent case history.

The company said it offered Hoover the chance to settle the claim for just over �1m before the case went to the High Court.

Encouraging others

Hoover took the case to the Court of Appeal last year, but lost.

And it was refused the right to appeal to the House of Lords.

James Dyson, who invented the bagless cleaner technology said: "When we discovered that Hoover had stolen one of our patents, we tried to settle the case to avoid a long and expensive three-year court battle, but Hoover refused.

"So we were forced to defend our patent against Hoover's infringement.

"I hope it encourages inventors who have their ideas stolen by multinational companies to fight for their patent rights," he added.