On Wednesday, Nintendo Co. won a 50% cutback of the USD30.2 million in damages awarded to Sony Corp's former worker. Plaintiff Seijiro Tomita claimed Nintendo's 3DS game and video console breached his 3-D technology patent.

"The jury's damages award was at least twice as large as the amount a reasonable jury could have awarded based on the evidence presented at trial and thereby must have involved the degree of excessive speculation that shocks the judicial conscience," US District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan stated in a ruling yesterday. The judge awarded Tomita and his corporation the option to accept USD15.1 million in damages or undertake another trial on compensation.

Tomita worked for Sony for nearly 30 years before resigning in 2002. In June 2011, Tomita sued Nintendo after the world's biggest video game corporation launched the 3DS.

"Nintendo will appeal the jury's verdict and reduced damages award," Nintendo of America's corporate communications' senior director, Charlie Scibetta, stated through an email.