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?

full_context: Document 1: Crookes tube: A Crookes tube (also Crookes–Hittorf tube) is an early experimental electrical discharge tube, with partial vacuum, invented by English physicist William Crookes and others around 1869-1875, in which cathode rays, streams of electrons, were discovered.
Document 2: John Ambrose Fleming: 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.
Document 3: George T. Cunningham: George T. Cunningham was the founder of Cunningham's, the 52-store British Columbia pharmacy chain that later became part of Shoppers Drug Mart. Cunningham was also an alderman, a member of the Vancouver School Board and was on the Board of Governors of the University of British Columbia for 30 years. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university after his death for his philanthropy, public service and dedication to education.
Document 4: Lee de Forest: Lee de Forest (August 26, 1873 – June 30, 1961) was an American inventor, self-described "Father of Radio", and a pioneer in the development of sound-on-film recording used for motion pictures. He had over 180 patents, but also a tumultuous career—he boasted that he made, then lost, four fortunes. He was also involved in several major patent lawsuits, spent a substantial part of his income on legal bills, and was even tried (and acquitted) for mail fraud. His most famous invention, in 1906, was the three-element "Audion" (triode) vacuum tube, the first practical amplification device. Although De Forest had only a limited understanding of how it worked, it was the foundation of the field of electronics, making possible radio broadcasting, long distance telephone lines, and talking motion pictures, among countless other applications.
Document 5: Frank Whittle: Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle {'1': ", '2': ", '3': ", '4': "} (1 June 1907 – 9 August 1996) was an English Royal Air Force (RAF) engineer air officer. He is credited with single-handedly inventing the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 for a similar invention; however, this was technically unfeasible at the time. Whittle's jet engines were developed some years earlier than those of Germany's Hans von Ohain who was the designer of the first "operational" turbojet engine.
Document 6: James Dewar: Sir James Dewar FRS FRSE (20 September 1842 – 27 March 1923) was a Scottish chemist and physicist. He is probably best known today for his invention of the vacuum flask, which he used in conjunction with extensive research into the liquefaction of gases. He was also particularly interested in atomic and molecular spectroscopy, working in these fields for more than 25 years.
Document 7: Cunningham scandal: The Cunningham scandal is a U.S. political scandal in which defense contractors paid bribes to members of Congress and officials in the U.S. Defense Department, in return for political favors in the form of federal contracts. Most notable amongst the recipients of the bribes was California Congressman Duke Cunningham who pleaded guilty to receiving over $2.3 million in bribes. The primary defense contractors were Mitchell Wade (owner of MZM) and Brent R. Wilkes (owner of ADCS Inc.).
Document 8: Edwin Howard Armstrong: Edwin Howard Armstrong (December 18, 1890 – January 31, 1954) was an American electrical engineer and inventor, best known for developing FM (frequency modulation) radio and the superheterodyne receiver system. He held 42 patents and received numerous awards, including the first Medal of Honor awarded by the Institute of Radio Engineers (now IEEE), the French Legion of Honor, the 1941 Franklin Medal and the 1942 Edison Medal. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and included in the International Telecommunication Union's roster of great inventors.
Document 9: William T. Cunningham: Father William T. Cunningham (1930 – May 26, 1997), a Detroit native, began studies for priesthood in 1943 at Sacred Heart Seminary. Cunningham was a parish priest for five years, then in 1961 joined the faculty of Sacred Heart Seminary as an English professor. He was a columnist and book review editor of the "Michigan Catholic". Cunningham and Eleanor Josaitis co-founded , a non-profit civil and human rights organization intended to help to resolve discrimination and injustice and to build a harmonious community on March 6, 1968, spurred by the destructive 1967 Detroit riot they witnessed. Cunningham died of a liver infection following cancer surgery in 1997. In 2005, members from the Church of the Madonna and its music director, William S. Harrison, honored Cunningham's legacy with the Fr. William T. Cunningham Memorial Choir, which has won both national and international choral competitions.
Document 10: Léon Theremin: Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Russian: Лев Сергеевич Термен ) (27 August [O.S. 15 August] 1896 – 3 November 1993), or Léon Theremin in the United States, was a Russian and Soviet inventor, most famous for his invention of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments and the first to be mass-produced. He also devised the interlace technique for improving the quality of a video signal, still widely used in video and television technology. His listening device, "The Thing", hung for seven years in plain view in the United States Ambassador's Moscow office and enabled Soviet agents to eavesdrop on secret conversations.
Document 11: Bill Lear: William Powell "Bill" Lear (June 26, 1902 – May 14, 1978) was an American inventor and businessman. He is best known for founding the Lear Jet Corporation, a manufacturer of business jets. He also invented the battery eliminator for the B battery, and developed the 8-track cartridge, an audio tape system. Throughout his career of 46 years, Lear received over 120 patents.
Document 12: Elmer T. Cunningham: 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.
Document 13: Michael Faraday: Michael Faraday FRS ( ; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis.
Document 14: Elmer McCurdy: Elmer J. McCurdy (January 1, 1880 – October 7, 1911) was an American bank and train robber who was killed in a shoot-out with police after robbing a Katy Train in Oklahoma in October 1911. Dubbed "The Bandit Who Wouldn't Give Up", his mummified body was first put on display at an Oklahoma funeral home and then became a fixture on the traveling carnival and sideshow circuit during the 1920s through the 1960s. After changing ownership several times, McCurdy's remains eventually wound up at The Pike amusement zone in Long Beach, California where they were discovered by a film crew and positively identified in December 1976.
Document 15: Thomas Davenport (inventor): Thomas Davenport (9 July 1802 – 6 July 1851) was a Vermont blacksmith who constructed the first American DC electric motor in 1834.
ground_truth: thermionic valve