A maker of Apple Computer’s iconic iPod said Thursday it has cut its demand for defamation damages over a report it mistreated its workers to a symbolic 1 yuan, which amounts to 12 US cents, following a wave of bad publicity. Hongfujin Precision Industry said it was reducing its demands for damages from a pair of Chinese journalists from about $3.8 million “to avoid blurring the issue because of the great public attention on the target of the injunction.”