 after the claims were aired in February. Channel 4's programme reported that workers making Dyson vacuums and air filters at a factory run by contractor ATA Industrial in Malaysia had been abused and mistreated. A lawsuit against the company brought by the Bangladeshi and Nepalese migrants claims they were made to work in "inhuman' conditions and seeks compensation. The claims are strongly contested by Dyson. Sir James sued Channel 4, arguing that the broadcast falsely portrayed him and the companies Dyson Technology and Dyson Limited as being complicit in the systematic abuse and exploitation of the workers. However, in a judgement published on Monday, Mr Justice Nicklin said he had dismissed Sir James' claim 'without difficulty'. A spokesman for Dyson described the decision as "preliminary", and said the company still maintains that it was defamed by the Channel 4 programme. The judge said that while Sir James was named and pictured in the programme, he was not defamed, having only been referred to 'in one paragraph of the transcript' and occupying 'a few seconds' of the overall programme. He added: 'The broadcast is simply not about him, and no ordinary reasonable viewer could conclude that he was being in any way criticised. 'Only a reader that was hopelessly naive about the way in which global companies like Dyson operate could consider that a single person, its founder, had day-to-day management responsibility for what happened in a manufacturing plant that supplied its products.' Hugh Tomlinson KC, representing Sir James and the two Dyson companies, previously told the High Court that the broadcast had targeted "Dyson, meaning Sir James and Dyson companies". However, Ad){kind=link}
Judge rules entrepreneur was not defamed in report on alleged exploitation of foreign workers
Sir James Dyson’s libel claim against Channel 4 has been dismissed after a High Court judge ruled that a programme about alleged exploitation of workers at a foreign factory did not defame him personally.
The billionaire owner of Dyson sued the broadcaster and Independent Television News (ITN) after the claims were aired in February.
Channel 4’s programme reported that workers making Dyson vacuums and air filters at a factory run by contractor ATA Industrial in Malaysia had been abused and mistreated.
A lawsuit against the company brought by the Bangladeshi and Nepalese migrants claims they were made to work in “inhuman” conditions and seeks compensation. The claims are strongly contested by Dyson.