iPod-manufacturer Foxconn cuts damage claim to against journalists to 1 renminbi (US$0.13)

Apple Store“The iPod manufacturer at the heart of a furor over the treatment of workers in China has reduced the damages it is seeking from a pair of journalists accused of defaming the company,” Dan Nystedt reports for IDG News Service.

Nystedt reports, “Hong Fujin Precision Industry, the largest exporter of IT products in China, slashed the amount it is seeking to 1 renminbi (US$0.13) because the original figure, 30 million renminbi, had blurred the issue at hand, a company representative said Thursday. The company also requested that the courts unfreeze the journalists’ bank accounts and other assets.”

“‘To refocus the public’s attention back to the real issue, [Hong Fujin] will withdraw the provisional seizure motion,’ it said in a statement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange by its Taiwanese parent company, Hon Hai Precision Industry. The companies operate under the trade name Foxconn Technology Group. But the company also added the publisher of the report, the China Business News, to the lawsuit as a defendant,” Nystedt reports.

Nystedt reports, “Hong Fujin is seeking redress through the defamation lawsuit after a whirlwind of bad publicity provoked by allegations that it treated workers poorly. The story was one of many to follow in the wake of an article by the British newspaper Mail on Sunday alleging long hours, low pay and poor working conditions at the site in Longhua, China, which produces iPods and other IT products.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Qka” for the heads up.]

Related articles:
Apple ‘working behind-the-scenes’ to help resolve plight of Chinese ‘iPod sweatshop’ journalists – August 30, 2006
Apple asked to intercede on behalf of Chinese ‘iPod sweatshop’ reporters – August 29, 2006
Foxconn sues journalist, editor over iPod ‘sweatshop’ story – August 29, 2006
Apple releases ‘Report on iPod Manufacturing’ – August 17, 2006
Should Apple build its own factory in China to manufacture iPods? – July 03, 2006
iPod maker admits breaking Chinese labor laws; says Apple approved sweatshop labor – June 26, 2006
Apple begins ‘thorough audit’ of Foxconn iPod factory – June 20, 2006
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Apple rebuts Chinese iPod factory claims – June 13, 2006
iPods made in Chinese sweatshops? – June 13, 2006

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