[HN Gopher] Dyson loses fight for $198M compensation over EU ene...
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       Dyson loses fight for $198M compensation over EU energy labelling
       rules
        
       Author : matthewmorgan
       Score  : 33 points
       Date   : 2021-12-08 19:09 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.reuters.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.reuters.com)
        
       | leoh wrote:
       | Does anyone have any precise details to help affirm or deny
       | Dyson's claims?
        
         | emn13 wrote:
         | The court apparently agreed that the standard was flawed - it
         | scrapped the standard! The court simply held the commission did
         | not "manifestly and gravely disregard the limits [...]" to the
         | point where dyson deserves hundreds of millions in
         | compensation.
         | 
         | i.e. to the extent that Dyson lost, it's revolving not around
         | the energy efficiency bit itself (it won that part), but rather
         | the claims that it lost hundreds of millions due to these rules
         | and that the rules were so egregious it deserves compensation
         | for that loss.
        
         | agustif wrote:
         | No but he peddled brexit and then moved production to
         | singapore... You might default to not trusting a guy who does
         | that...
        
           | 2wrist wrote:
           | and then was given a ventilator contract, with fanfare, at
           | the start of the pandemic when there was a shortage, (whilst
           | the government wasn't answering the phone from actual
           | ventilator manufacturers) then they couldn't deliver.
           | 
           | I will never by a dyson product.
        
             | sam_lowry_ wrote:
             | I have a DC-62 vacuum cleaner and its a hell to empty.
             | Batteries are short-lived and expensive.
             | 
             | Their hand dryers are perfect microbe an virus spreading
             | tools, apparently.
             | 
             | Their kind of "airco" ventilators do not cool the air.
             | 
             | So yes, Dyson is a failed brand.
        
               | exhilaration wrote:
               | I don't know about their cordless stuff but aren't their
               | corded vacuums considered the best? We got a one of their
               | orange "ball" vacuums in 2009 as a wedding gift, it's
               | been used 300+ days per year for the past 12 years. I had
               | change out the power switch in 2019 -- it was only $9 on
               | Amazon + a 15 minute procedure I learned from a YouTube
               | video. When this thing eventually dies I'm pretty sure
               | I'm buying another one.
        
               | Marsymars wrote:
               | > I don't know about their cordless stuff but aren't
               | their corded vacuums considered the best?
               | 
               | Not really. They're not bad, but they're very expensive.
               | You can get something comparable (Shark) for cheaper, or
               | something better (Miele) for the same money.
               | 
               | And Dyson has said that they're not making any new corded
               | vacuums, they're focusing on cordless now.
        
               | maxehmookau wrote:
               | I don't think this is entirely fair. Separating the man
               | from the brand, the products are pretty good. My dyson
               | vacuum is excellent, even with a dog. My wife has the
               | hairdryer which she loves.
               | 
               | He did advocate for Brexit and then move production
               | offshore though. So take the rough with the smooth.
        
               | cesaref wrote:
               | Agreed. I remember reading his autobiography back in 2005
               | or so, and thinking what a weird self-centred individual
               | he was. I certainly don't agree with his politics.
               | 
               | However, I think there's no doubt that Dyson make great
               | vacuum cleaners.
        
               | maxehmookau wrote:
               | He's a bit strange, from my eyes anyway. He's done some
               | great things for UK innovation and product design.
               | Politics aside, we shouldn't detract from that.
               | 
               | But my wife can dry her hair in less than 20 minutes, and
               | it's quiet. Well worth the money!
        
               | turtlebits wrote:
               | How is it hard to empty? The bottom just flips open. And
               | there are lots of battery options- 3rd party ones aren't
               | expensive.
        
           | mytailorisrich wrote:
           | Even before that, as reported in the news in 2011 he
           | stealthily built a swimming pool in the basement of his
           | listed mansion without planning permission.
           | 
           | He obviously knew what he was doing and it worked since,
           | although he was later caught, he managed to escape
           | prosecution and was granted retrospective permission... I'm
           | not sure authorities would have been that understanding with
           | everyone.
        
           | smnrchrds wrote:
           | Why Singapore out of all places? It seems a very expensive
           | place to start a manufacturing company.
        
             | azalemeth wrote:
             | They're mostly not _manufactured_ in Singapore. They 're
             | _designed_ in Singapore (formerly the UK), manufactured
             | mostly in Malaysia and the Philipines (where labour is
             | cheaper, [1]) and I presume the shift is entirely for tax
             | reasons - in contrast to the UK it has far lower corporate
             | taxation rates, and relevantly for Dyson himself, no
             | capital gains tax _at all_ [2] unlike the UK, which I
             | presume will dramatically improve his income. The fact that
             | they 'll be in / closer to the same timezone as the
             | manufacturing base probably helps as well.
             | 
             | [1] https://www.quora.com/Where-and-how-are-Dyson-vacuums-
             | made?s... [2] https://ebos-sg.com/singapore-is-a-tax-haven/
        
           | snickmy wrote:
           | I didn't know that Dyson actually peddled Brexit. That is a
           | massive disappointment on such a brilliant person. (I'd love
           | to read more if you have references)
        
             | afandian wrote:
             | It's all out in the open, he pushed for Brexit[0] citing
             | British competetivity ... and then moved production out of
             | Britain to Singapore.
             | 
             | Got any references for 'briliant person'!?
             | 
             | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dyson#Pro-Brexit
        
             | rocketbop wrote:
             | It was widely reported in the press at the time a quick
             | Google will provide a lot of results.
        
             | blibble wrote:
             | given his experience with EU energy labelling laws his
             | position really isn't that unreasonable
             | 
             | (essentially the laws were bought and paid for by his
             | competitors)
             | 
             | and they were annulled: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload
             | /docs/application/pdf/201...
        
               | deadbunny wrote:
               | > essentially the laws were bought and paid for by his
               | competitors
               | 
               | Citation Needed.
        
               | emn13 wrote:
               | Well, so he claims. Is that actually true? But
               | regardless; even if he had reason to dislike certain
               | regulators - that makes for a really poor reason to argue
               | to remove yourself from the equation when it comes to
               | influence over those regulations. If anything, if indeed
               | the rule-making process was corrupt, that argues
               | _against_ Brexit, not for it (from the perspective of
               | business primarily involved in selling goods affected by
               | those regulations).
               | 
               | In fact, it sounds like those regulations hurt his
               | competitors at least as much as Dyson:
               | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/21/anger-as-
               | eu-ba... - "Dyson vacuum cleaners score highly in the
               | ratings. However, the manufacturer has many concerns
               | about flaws in the system that will ultimately be
               | unhelpful for consumers."
               | 
               | Notably, Dyson "won" in that review; it only lost the
               | case for hundreds of millions in damages.
        
               | blibble wrote:
               | > that makes for a really poor reason to argue to remove
               | yourself from the equation when it comes to influence
               | over those regulations.
               | 
               | here's a few Dyson subsidiaries:                  - Dyson
               | BV (Dutch)        - Dyson Austria GmbH        - Dyson
               | GmbH (German)        - Dyson Finland Oy        - Dyson
               | Ireland Ltd        - Dyson SAS (France)        - Dyson
               | Spain SLU        - Dyson Sweden AB        - Dyson sp zoo
               | Poland
               | 
               | it's a large multinational, not some micro-enterprise,
               | brexit has little to no impact on his ability to
               | "influence" regulations
        
         | Arnt wrote:
         | IIRC:
         | 
         | Dyson said that the tests weren't representative of real use,
         | and that if they used a vacuum cleaner all the way from empty
         | to full, Dyson's would score much better. A court agreed that
         | the tests weren't good and ordered improvement. Dyson then
         | asked for financial compensation. A court said the tests
         | weren't bad enough to warrant any compensation.
        
         | snickmy wrote:
         | This similar to another case where Dyson was arguing that some
         | standard for performance verification are unfair to their
         | product (https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/dyson-dryers-
         | hurl-60... )
         | 
         | They usually use as reference their own test methodology, which
         | is overall a bit pointless. Either make it a standard, or
         | adhere to one.
        
       | bastardoperator wrote:
       | I never understood the appeal of Dyson products.
        
         | agustif wrote:
         | Marketing. Good (looking) design. Money for patents and more
         | marketing.
         | 
         | I had one at some time in my life, it was OK but not life
         | changing to cost 10x what a normal regular vacuum would cost.
         | 
         | It's just like any luxury item mostly flexing and status
         | signaling through purchasing stuff, or so it seems to me
        
         | IcyClAyMptHe wrote:
         | I understood them back when my parents bought a Dyson bagless
         | vacuum back in the early 2000s (iirc). It was high tech,
         | powerful (I still remember them showing me how much more dust
         | and dog hair it pulled out of the carpet), and advertised no
         | loss of suction.
         | 
         | Unfortunately it did lose suction over time, and was eventually
         | replaced by an absolutely ancient Kirby vac (the kind that were
         | sold by door to door salesmen god knows how long ago), which is
         | built like a tank and still works perfectly well today.
         | Probably the sort of thing I'd put in the "buy it for life"
         | category.
         | 
         | I still kind of put Dyson in that early 2000s category of
         | products - both for aesthetic and general attitude reasons. It
         | has that energy of "it's the year 2000, so stuff is now HIGH
         | TECH", but often times the older, less flashy stuff is still
         | better.
        
         | thehenster wrote:
         | The bathroom hand drier they invented is/was cool. No heat and
         | knocking the water off with a faster jet of air by pushing it
         | through a smaller hole was a decent improvement.
        
           | KarlKode wrote:
           | I prefer a simple paper towel dispenser or if you want to be
           | more sustainable one with a reusable cloth towel "ribbon".
           | But yeah the Dyson driers are better than the heated blowers.
        
         | GuB-42 wrote:
         | They used to make the only bagless vacuum cleaners that worked
         | well, it is not really the case anymore, probably due to
         | patents expiring, but they still the big name brand.
         | 
         | And their bladeless fans, while not really better at moving air
         | than regular fans, they are certainly stylish.
         | 
         | I personally think that they make overpriced items and are not
         | worth it anymore, but I understand the appeal.
        
       | robga wrote:
       | It's a dirty industry (snort!) Howling, germ bellowing airblades
       | are a personal dislike of mine.
       | https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/25/hand-dryers-...
        
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       (page generated 2021-12-08 23:03 UTC)