question: Elmer Tiling Cunningham an American entrepreneur was in direct violation by infringing on patents of a British electrical engineer known for inventing the first what?
answer: thermionic valve
context: Title: John Ambrose Fleming
  Passage: Sir John Ambrose Fleming FRS (29 November 1849 – 18 April 1945) was a British electrical engineer and physicist.  He is known for inventing the first thermionic valve or vacuum tube.  He is also famous for the left hand rule (for electric motors).  He was born the eldest of seven children of James Fleming DD (died 1879), a Congregational minister, and his wife, Mary Ann, at Lancaster, Lancashire and baptised on 11 February 1850.
  Title: Emile Garcke
  Passage: Emile Oscar Garcke (1856 – 14 November 1930) was a naturalised British electrical engineer, industrial, commercial and political entrepreneur managing director of the British Electric Traction Company (BET), and early author on accounting.  who is noted for writing the earliest standard text on cost accounting in 1887.
  Title: R. E. B. Crompton
  Passage: Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton, CB, FRS (31 May 1845 – 15 February 1940) was a British electrical engineer, industrialist and inventor.  He was a pioneer of electric lighting and public electricity supply systems.  The company he formed, Crompton & Co., was one of the world's first large-scale manufactures of electrical equipment.  He was also an early campaigner for an international standard for electrical systems.  He was involved with both the practical and academic sides of his discipline, being a founder member of the International Electrotechnical Commission and twice president of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.  He was a fellow of the Royal Society and a founder member of the Royal Automobile Club.
  Title: Horatio Saint George Anson
  Passage: Horatio Saint George Anson (August 1, 1903 – June 30, 1925) was a British electrical engineer who in collaboration with Stephen Oswald Pearson discovered the Pearson–Anson effect, inventing the neon lamp relaxation oscillator.
  Title: William Gosling (engineer)
  Passage: William Gosling (born 1932) is a British electrical engineer, Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath, and pioneer of system design in electrical engineering.
  Title: Winston L. Shelton
  Passage: Winston Laverne Shelton (born May 3, 1922) is an American inventor, electrical engineer and entrepreneur who has been awarded 76 US patents as an individual or as part of a team, as well as many corresponding patents.  Shelton's patents have had an impact relating to home washing machines and the preparation of food in both the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry and fine dining.  Technologies Shelton developed while an engineer at General Electric are still in use after more than fifty years.  His patent for the modern "Washing Machine" (US 3257830 A), licensed in 1965 to General Electric has been referenced in over 40 subsequent patents.
  Title: Elmer T. Cunningham
  Passage: Elmer Tiling Cunningham (September 1, 1889 – June 14, 1965) was an American entrepreneur and businessman, specializing in vacuum tubes and radio manufacturing.  He is best known for being the most successful business person to produce counterfeit (AKA bootleg) or unlicensed vacuum tubes (1915-1920).  Cunningham was in direct violation by infringing on the Fleming and De Forest vacuum tube patents.  Unlike other businesses making unlicensed or bootlegged vacuum tubes, Cunningham was very aggressive in his advertising.  Manufacturers of counterfeit vacuum tubes generally ended their activities after a lawsuit has been filed but Cunningham came out ahead after various lawsuits brought against him and his company, the Audio Tron Sales Company.  His successes encouraged many others to do the same thing.
citations: John Ambrose Fleming Elmer T. Cunningham