“Sony also appears to be facing widespread claims for compensation from several laptop manufacturers, including Toshiba, Hitachi and Fujitsu, according to reports.” – CNET.com

“A shortage of the batteries, used in electronics ranging from laptops to handheld music players, might dent sales during the year-end shopping season.” – Bloomberg.com

I know I’ve already discussed the bad battery issue, but something else just came up: The latest twist from what may very well turn out to be one of the biggest technology news stories of the second half of this year: Sony is being taken to the cleaners for more than just the replacement costs associated with its bad batteries.

According to CNET’s Colin Barker, such giants as Toshiba, Lenovo and Dell are considering seeking compensation from Sony for indirect costs associated with the recall i.e. “damage to their corporate reputations”. Excuse me? Toshiba is going to sue Sony for the corporate equivalent of slander? Don’t worry - Sony has its bases covered…

Tim Culpan with Bloomberg.com is reporting on the expected worldwide shortage of all types of batteries, through June of next year!! According to three Taiwanese battery pack manufacturers, this shortage is due to the notebook battery recall from Sony (the world’s number two maker of rechargeable batteries) and the shortage of capacity in other manufacturer’s facilities to make up the difference in the world marketplace.

Welcome back to Economics 101: ‘You can’t have that battery for three months AND you have to pay three times as much for it.’