iPod maker backs down on journalist defamation

THE OUTFIT which makes Apple's iPods is trying to back out of a PR disaster by dropping its $3.8 million lawsuit against two journalists.

Hongfujin Precision Industry Co. said it was reducing its demands for damages from a pair of Chinese journalists from $3.8 million to just a few cents. The pair dared to expose the outfit for breaching Chinese labour laws and in essence running a sweatshop.

A spokesperson for the company, which has always denied the claims, said that the reduction in the fines was "to avoid blurring the issue because of the great public attention on the target of the injunction."

It has also withdrawn a court request calling for the journalists' personal assets to be frozen.

Reporters Without Borders had penned a letter to Apple boss Steve Jobs, urging him to persuade Hongfujin's parent company, Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, to drop the case.

Apple claimed it was working behind the scenes to help resolve the dispute, even though its own investigation had white washed the plant, despite admitting that staff were working too many hours.

The case ain't over. Hongfujin is still taking the case to court. The journalists say they can prove all their allegations and it could get messy for Apple and Hongfujin if they are able to do so.

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