Toshiba Corp's demands for compensation from Sony Corp over the recall of Sony-made batteries used in its laptops may also include demands for damages to its product image and lost sales opportunities, the Nihon Keizai business daily said on Monday.
Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori declined immediate comment on the report.
Chips-to-conglomerate Toshiba has joined other computer makers such as Dell Inc., Apple Computer Inc., Lenovo, IBM, Sharp Corp., Fujitsu Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. in recalling Sony batteries, which Sony has said can on rare occasions overheat and catch fire.
Toshiba and Sony are currently in talks about Sony shouldering the direct costs for replacing the batteries.
Toshiba has recalled 830,000 batteries that may be at risk of overheating and catching fire. It has also recalled another 340,000 Sony-made batteries that may fail due to problems with storing and transmitting power.
The total number of Sony batteries recalled is over 7.7 million.
Sony said recalls by Dell and Apple, announced in August, would cost it between 20 billion and 30 billion yen, or between $168 million and $252 million. But Sony is now expected to face an even heavier financial burden with the additional recalls.
The electronics and entertainment conglomerate, which is in the early stages of an earnings recovery, said it is still assessing the financial impact from the series of recalls.
Sony's shares were up 1.7 percent at 4,840 yen, extending gains made on Friday after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on Sony to "overweight" from "equal weight", saying it expected an earnings recovery helped by sales of flat panel televisions.
